Neuroscience, Psychology Eroding Idea of Free Will

pragueexpat writes "Do we have free will? Possibly not, according to an article in the new issue of the Economist. Entitled 'Free to choose?', the piece examines new discoveries in the fields of neuroscience and psychology that may be forcing us to re-examine the concept of free will. The specifically cite a man with paedophilic tendencies who was cured when his brain tumor was removed. 'Who then was the child abuser?', they ask. The predictable conclusion of this train of thought, of course, leads us to efforts by Britain: 'At the moment, the criminal law--in the West, at least--is based on the idea that the criminal exercised a choice: no choice, no criminal. The British government, though, is seeking to change the law in order to lock up people with personality disorders that are thought to make them likely to commit crimes, before any crime is committed.'"

Comments

Re:You forgot something

[fastcoke11]

Actually, what that shows us is that you are a knee-jerk reactionist who, instead of defending their country, wants to shove the blame on the easiest target: America. I know it's sooooooooooooo popular to hate America. I think you forget where it stems from: that jealous, self-hating, rage that is inside some Europeans for seeing their empires fall down and die out, as well as having to realize what atrocities were committed under its rule, then seeing this new young country with all this power, making decisions that they don't like. And to make things worse, they're better than you and they know it.

Re:It's optimal to behave as if free will exists.

[pipingguy]

Does your username reflect having more than usual holes in your head? If so, did it hurt?

Sorry!