Does Free Will Exist? Science, Religion And Everything In Between.

I recently read Seven Deadly Sins: The Biology of Being Human by Guy Leschziner. I picked it up at the Chennai Airport simply because the author is a professor at my alma mater, King's College London.

The book, from the preface, until the ending notes, was a roller coaster. Each chapter hitting an aspect of my emotions in a unique way. Here's why:

The book essentially is a reflection of the author's experiences with his patients, the science behind it and his perspective. He asks why does one behave a certain way and if there is a biological explanation to our so called 'sins' - wrath, gluttony, lust, envy, sloth, greed and pride. It then beautifully ends with a question - does free will exist?

As much as I'd like to brag about the scientific facts about the various sins, in this blog, I want to skip to this ending question as the beginning of my blog writing journey.

Is free will real? I think, it's absolutely not. Because, we are still bound by society's norms. I can't go out and maybe, kill someone I dislike, or rob a bank. You might say, "but silly, these are extreme examples". And I would agree. Let's think about free will within the bounds of socially acceptable behaviour. On the ‘yes' side of this question, free will must be real as I am writing this blog within my own rights of free will. However, I would argue, not fully because I still need to pay for hosting this website when I don’t want to. Hmmm.

In that sense, maybe free will exists, but with consideration to other people’s wills. I want to start a blog, but Wix wants to charge me for the service. I must accept it, if I really wish to do it. Let’s try another example. Let’s say, I want to live in a city, but also enjoy pollution-free air. However, I must choose either one, because I’m limited by the population and industrialisation factor, i.e., external factors. I must choose either the city’s vibrant night life or a small town’s (comparatively) fresher air. Hence, free will exists, but with consideration to other people’s wills AND opportunity costs.

Now let’s say I want to travel around the world in my twenties, but also set myself up for a stable career and spend some time with my family. I also want to be physically fit, become a self-made millionaire, AND have a balanced lifestyle, while also ensuring my sleeping habits are healthy. All throughout my twenties. I’m sure many of us have been in such a dilemma at some point in our lives. But sadly, we are limited by time. So then, free will must exist, but with consideration to other people’s wills AND opportunity costs AND time.

Ok, I will compromise on the time factor. I’m happy to be a millionaire in my twenties, spend time with my family in my 30s, and travel in my 40s. Any maybe die by 50, coz the world sucks. But is all of that, and all my other reasonable but ambitious wills in my control?

Going back to Guy Leschziner’s book, he says studies have shown that our brain decides, for example, whether we want to go right or left, a split second before our consciousness is fooled into thinking it has made a decision. Even physics has concluded that free will does not exist. Based on Newtonian Physics,

1. The future state of a system can be precisely determined if we know its current state and the forces acting on it.

2. This implies a lack of free will because, theoretically, if we knew the position and momentum of every particle, we could predict the future with complete accuracy.

In simple words, if free will existed, we must know the outcome of everything, if, we knew about everyone’s choices. That means, theoretically, we could predict every single thing. One thought about this, if you knew the outcome to tomorrow’s football match, would you really want to spend £00s of pounds on the tickets? Oh also, technically then, the stock market would have no momentum. That’s because, the market’s nature is inherently speculative and driven by perception (John Maynard Keynes, 1936). Hence, according to physics, free will does not exist.

Enough of science, what about God? Well, The Bhagavad Gita, the holy book of the Hindu’s, says otherwise. One popular verse from the infamous Bhagavad Gita says:

"You have the right to perform your duties, but not to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction."

Even Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and all other equally relevant religions imply or directly state that God guides the future. Essentially saying that our future is already determined by the Greater powers. This means, that free will is only limited to our actions based on an external circumstance.

Essentially, I have the right to free will, but only for action. My actions will not necessarily have a willed causal effect. So basically, I can only decide if I want to work hard in my 20s, not if I want to be a millionaire. Now that's a bummer.