Michael Merzenich - Do Brains Have Free Will?

Free will seems the simplest of notions. Why then is free will so vexing to philosophers? Here’s why: no one knows how free will works! Science, seemingly, permits no ‘gaps’—’joints’ in the structure of the world—in which free will can operate. The brain seems like an all-physical system working according to physical laws. How then a will that’s fully free?

Michael M. Merzenich is a Professor Emeritus Neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco.

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.

[MandolinKasi]

Professor Michael Merzenich overlooks one crucial aspect: free will is not merely about the options available, which can be limited by knowledge, but rather about the decision to act on that knowledge or choose an alternative. This distinction is not addressed. Many scientists argue that our options are determined by our knowledge, and while that is valid, the real question is whether the choice of which option to pursue lies within our consciousness.

[federicopettinicchio]

I don't know what's the obsession with free will. I have my will and my body acts according to it. Who cares if it's free, it's mine, heck it's me. My body does most of the small stuff, when I want to scratch an itch I don't go around wanting to deal with the freedom to move my arm to reach the itchy place, apply the pressure, modulate the movement... Holy fuck it's a job already. I just express my will to scratch myself and my body picks an arm according to its preference, moves in an arc according to its calculations and does the scratching all on its own. Thank you I am satisfied with my level of freedom.

[KevinSandy]

No one deserves merit. We have done nothing to earn it.

[GBuckne]

..I agree we have free will with limits...like a jazz musician that has freedom to improvise but within the chord structure...also human beings have the ability to contemplate on an action, where to my knowledge, I'm not aware of any animals that have this ability...

[kallianpublico]

Was watching John Carpenter's "Thing". After all these years it occurred to me that even if a creature could copy another creature's form why would that give it the power to mimic behavior? How would it know that creature's walk, talk, etcetera?
The brain or body in and of itself has no ...energy. No energy that maintains life and adapts on its own.
This makes the question of free will secondary. The real question is what is the will. What animates the brain and stomach?

[MandolinKasi]

Even tossing a coin to decide whether to do something or not still involves free will, as I freely choose to follow the coin's outcome. The coin's outcome may be random, but my decision to adhere to it is an exercise of free will.

[wthomas]

If you can't control how you think and feel, how can you possibly have "free will"? It's all done subconsciously. Everything is subject to cause and effect. There's nothing "free" about it.

[brianlebreton]

I love the example and the statements about our will being constrained as we accumulate experience and knowledge. But the choices made before we have a bank of knowledge and experience is still a choice. I would say your choices made before the acquisition of experience are not necessarily forced and hence “freer”. But maybe instincts are the guider of will at that point and the question of whether instincts are freely chosen influences come into play. Interesting topic.

[AAA-ww]

Very important question. 

This needs to be examined and expressed within explanation of what consciousness is, and if any relation between mind and brain exists.

In total, I say there is no free will
as I have expressed in other videos of this program.


Metaphysician philosopher

[di]

As a person who has firmly decided to lose weight for my health, I know I have no free will.

[GiorgiMelqadze-oi]

Very important conversation enabling us to arrive at the core of the free will question.

At the end of the conversation, the guest, Michael Merzenich, concludes he believes in free will with limits. This is the best answer to the free will question.

As noted in the conversation, our behaviour is DETERMINED by the set of ethical principles, the culture, our early behavioural history (experience), and the other influences at a given moment. So, our behaviour is constrained. "But how constrained?", the host, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, replied, and this is the key to the issue. Is our behaviour COMPLETELY constrained? Or, is our behaviour PARTLY constrained? If we claimed it is completely constrained, that would be an exaggeration. So, we should assert that our behaviour is partly constrained, and we should believe in free will with limits, as Michael Merzenich does.

[quantumkath]

I have a free will. I got it in the mail.

[missh]

What if it's a distribution problem from the brain to body? Maybe the metals and electrical signals are firing incompatibly with say the goal. Someone wants to wash hands and move to next .... but it takes awhile for the connection or file to be retrieved. Something like that maybe? So is free will only a spontaneous thing that can happen when something gets bucked off the intended direction? What if it gets bucked off a few times... does the brain make gradual adjustments or does it try a completely different way?

[quakers]

We are what the laws of nature tell us to do. There may be areas of randomness in the system but that is not the same as we being control. It may be that there is a purpose to the illusion of free will . When we look at a photograph we have the illusion of depth that the brain creates that make it possible to function with our limited optical system. The idea that some action taking place is the result of this self directed little man in my head directing you may be part of a higher system of behavioral controls kind of a symbolic construction. I feel that our understanding of the brain today is about as advanced as the understanding of the body was four thousand years ago. We will have to start with small brains, insect brains, worm brains one Neuro, one chemical at a time. First we need systems that can measure very subtile changes of hundreds of cells in real time. We do not have such instruments yet but the computers needed to run the machine is close to ready. Just my opinion.

[SRAVALM]

" i'd like to think" is a phrase i make fun of myself for whenever it occurs.
Overcoming the mind is very difficult. And too, because of the mind and impulses, gives a sense of direction, therefore a potiential for an accomplishment arise, but is it really that, or a mirage of a notion. What really is there to accomplish or to prove when mind has be surmounted; the paradigm falls, or a paradigm shift occurs.

It may be true we don't have, as in possess, frewill. And that's ok, it changes nothing, and me personally, am happy for the potientialy of freewill - it's all i need.

[benjamintrevino]

Walking is one controlled fall after another.

[willrose]

Can the cameraman stop blurring at the start? It's annoying

[slfz]

The better you control your hormones, the better you exercise your freewill.

[samc]

If we say Will is one with Determinism, that in no way suggests it is subject to or free from it... 🤔

[seangilmore]

Brains are good at automating repetitive tasks. One does not have to be fully present when walking to a destination. Instead, thoughts of the destination and what can be accomplished upon arrival may permeate one's focus while walking. Training and conditioning allow one to move on auto-pilot (sleepwalk) in this manner, which is ironic because it is the opposite of free will. It requires free will to do both simultaneously.