Free Will

Free Will is one of the central questions in philosophy. The question is simple: can sentient beings 'choose' outcomes somehow independently of random variables and causality? I remain neutral (while still leaning towards 'yes' on the question, thanks to Heisenberg Uncertainty, the Free Will Theorem, and the existence of consciousness) on the question "is Free Will true?". I have no actual idea whether it is, with only vague evidence that it is. In fact, since the evidence that it is true is mostly my own conscious experience, if I were an observer outside the system looking at the universe from a wholly objective viewpoint, it's more than likely that I would believe the opposite.

However, I have a very definite answer to a more important question: Should I believe in Free Will? The answer is "YES".

To demonstrate how I got to this conclusion let us analyze the possibilities:

(1) Suppose I believe in Free Will. Either Free Will is true or it is not true. If Free Will is true, then I am correct in my belief, which is important for helping me make the correct decisions (which is, as the Axiom of Utility says, what this whole exercise of philosophy is all about). If Free Will is false, then although I am wrong, it won't screw up any of my decisions since if Free Will is false I can't make decisions anyhow. So if I believe in Free Will, either I am right, or the point is moot.

(2) Suppose I don't believe in Free Will. Then, if Free Will is true, I am wrong and this error in my belief will screw up my decision-making. If Free Will is false, I am right (yippee for me) but this belief cannot help me make my decisions, so it's pointless anyways. Thus, if I don't believe in Free Will, I'm either wrong or the point is moot anyway.

Thus, the worst outcome in (1) is the same as the best outcome in (2), so it is better for me in EVERY CASE to believe in Free Will. So, I believe in Free Will.

(A cute way to sum up my argument that my father came up with was "Free Will is my choice because it is the only choice" - if I am allowed to choose, then Free Will must be true)

A note to those who think that scientific evidence favors determinism: yes, General Relativity and Newtonian Mechanics are deterministic sciences - but Quantum Mechanics says otherwise. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle makes exact measurements impossible, making the Free Will question scientifically unanswerable. The existence of consciousness proves that something unknown to science is taking place in our neurons - allowing a space for free will (unproven by science) to slip into. And thanks to scientific models and the Free Will theorem of the brilliant Princeton mathematics professors Conway and Kochen, we have seen that human Free Will implies particle Free Will - again pointing to the potential of Quantum Mechanics, which deals with particles, to be the source of a physical process that produces Free Will. Thus scientific evidence is actually, by my own sense, slightly (though by no means strongly) in favor of Free Will.

And even if all the evidence were against me, I would still believe in Free Will - because belief in Free Will is, as belief in my own existence is, a no-lose situation.