Patrick Haggard - Mysteries of Free Will

Our human sense is that our will is fully free. Our scientific sense is that every action is determined by a prior action. Free will versus determinism is a big question without clear answer. What follows from free will affects morality, responsibility, judgment, even the deep nature of consciousness.




Patrick Haggard is a neuroscientist and current Deputy Director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, where he is a professor in the department of Psychology.


Closer to Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[PaulHoward]

Studying meaningless choices is pointless. Free will is experienced when we decide our morals are inadequate and try to improve them.

[ypyp]

Very difficult for me to correlate that experiment with any empirical evaluation of free will. For me it was an evaluation of the relationship between stimuli and time dependent recollection.

[imaginaryuniverse]

I always say we should act as though we have free will just in case we do. 👍

[abduazirhi]

Time is what separates Free Will from Determinism. We've free will in what we know (Now) and we have no power of free choice in what we don't know yet (future).

[my_dear_friend_]

It seems unlikely that a human can control their brain to think or act free from past influences or experiences. But it is certainly tempting to believe and it sure feels that way. The illusion of being the master of oneself might even be important.

[augustodelerme]

Ofcourse we have free will we dont have a choice.

[missh]

We already know you all intended to do it!

[CrowMagnum]

Big difference between external electrode and an unconscious motivation.

[quakers]

Free will is like the self, the more you look for it the harder it is to find. How do you choose your next thought? They seem to be connected to the previous thought. When I am tired it is even more obvious that my thoughts just appear but when i concentrate it does seem that I am at least having better thoughts appear, as though there is some control of thinking. Yet it does seem that I can not choose to be happy when I am not, thoughts that are not helpful come and stay for a time that is beyond my control. Still being in charge feels so obviously true. Can that be denied?

[jareknowak]

This speaks of free will more in terms of the passage of time, not the actual moment of decision making.

[caricue]

The premise of Haggard's experiments was to see if consciousness actively participated in choices or if it was just an epiphenomenon that takes credit after the fact. It's hard to believe that anyone takes that idea seriously enough to even do the test. Determinism makes people dumb.

[SRAVALM]

How does personality or natures of people impact this test such as: clairsentience, empathy, intuition? These kinds are very rare.
I've done my own experiments concerning intuition, clairsentience and though difficult to interpret and explain, and although by listening to your 'gut' or the 'spirit', at times seeming to be unconventional and deviate, paradoxical even, I've come to Know it is far more true, or pure, and perhaps because intuition and listening to her it is without an intention or preconceived thought or any kind of notion for that matter. Soul seeks to reconcile relation in Intellect to the GOOD & PURE, whereas the ego of man has these intentions, notions, ideas, beliefs etc. A genuine man seeks to purify his Soul from the confines of body, from the worldly quarrels, too which fetters are such as beliefs, notions, worldy desires, intentions etc. In fact, for intuition to truly operate requires one to have no ego, or self image, you must be above all that for the clarity that is clairsentience.
I not so much think of myself having intentions, rather acknowledge I am here to grow, learn and to understanding.

Something that is interesting:
where there has been tsunamis and people get injured or worst, prior to the actual event all the animals flee to safety, however, the humans are so disconnected from nature & instincts today and cannot sense like the animals do, they recieve no sign indicating danger. What's taking place here? How does this also impact the test?

Some of the worst events are by men thinking they're doing 'good'. Remember, evil men never wake up dreaming of doing evil things. Everybody thinks they're the 'good' guy, most wars are fought out of a sense of love, perhaps not the purest love, rather an egoic love.

[kallianpublico]

How can we reconcile ignorance with free will?
It seems to me that ignorance not only makes determinism a limiting case of understanding, it makes understanding a limiting case of consciousness.
Ignorance is the necessary foundation for free will. Not only is ignorance necessary for free will it is necessarily mutable. Ignorance changes in quality, not quantity, as the will changes. This quality is what can be regarded as emergence.
Insomuch as ignorance can never be quantified, there is a quantum barrier to emergence that can only be breached by the will. Not by knowledge but by will. By belief wedded to desire.

[jamesruscheinski]

what does the quick decline in memory of intention after so many minutes mean for free will? does memory of intention and free will move along with the present time?

[aminomar]

Not only that, even waking up is a process triggered by an action too.
even the Loss of consciousness upon strong psychological trauma is triggered by an action through self-concept, ….

[ififif]

This basically didn't mean anything as far as freewill is concerned.

[quakers]

This video, is it not designed with the very idea that we are free to believe or not believe and at the same time the video is changing our thoughts in a way where someone else is making the choice for us. .

[holgerjrgensen]

Life is Eternal,
Our Consciousness is Eternal,
the Life-Desire is the Motor of Life,
in direct extension, We have the Will, (Life-side) and Gravity, (Stuff-side)
'by Our Will We do balance Gravity of Earth, with our own, when We lift the Cup', -

Life Re-new and Develop Consciousness, Developing-Circuit after Developing-Circuit, in the Developing-Spiral.
The end of a Developing-Circuit, is the beginning of a new and higher,
in the beginning of a Developing-Circuit, the Will is at it's minimum-performance,
and in the end, at the Maximum-performance.

(Memory is the highest Ability of the six shades in the Mother-Energy), (Rainbow)

[B.S...]

Other than chance, the causal chain is unbreakable.

[LatinosOver]

Why did a pair of twins separated at birth and having never met, name their kids the same, both twins chose the same careers, marry a woman with the same name, they drive the same car with the same car color? This happened to many twins separated at birth... I'm confused !!!