Does "Free Will" exist?

For most people the question whether free will exists or not is very absurd and stupid. 

Isn't it obvious that everyone takes independent decisions all the time? I decided to write this blog because I have a free will, and I could have simply decided not to write it, or could I? Do I really have an authority over my decisions? Could I really have done something in the past differently?  NO

What is free will?

Free will is the ability to take decisions independently. Free will is the belief that you have authority over what you do. Also, that you could have done something differently in the past, like you could have had sandwich instead of omelette this morning.

Why does free will not exist? 

I believe free will is humanity's biggest illusion, the biggest hoax there is. The belief that you could have done something in the past in a different way is wrong.

Everything you did or happened could not have been done in a different way.

Let's understand this with an example,

Suppose you went for shopping and passed through the ketchup section and looked at it and started thinking whether you should buy them or not. You have two options 

1- Buy it

2- Not buy it

Your decision to buy it or not will depend on some factors, actually a lot of factors, factors that influence your desire to buy it or not. I'm dividing the factors into two parts, conscious and unconscious. your decision will be influenced by your desires which are further influenced by factors in your conscious mind and unconscious mind. Since we can't control nor are we aware of our unconscious thoughts (actually we can't control our conscious thoughts too but we have a sense of authority over conscious thoughts) I will exclude the unconscious factors.

So let's list a few conscious factors that will influence your desire to buy it or not

1- availability of ketchup at your home

2- your taste for ketchup

3- availability of money

1- The availability and unavailability of ketchup in your home cannot be changed at this moment, it's not under your authority to change the availability of ketchup right now. This shows that the first factor that governs your desire that further governs your decision is not under your control. 

2- Your taste for ketchup, whether you like it or not, depends partially on your taste bud (which is a genetical property) and your experience in the past. You don't decide your genes, your past is no more under your authority, you cannot change the experiences of your past at this moment. So it is safe to conclude that this factor is also not under your authority, you can no more alter your desire to taste ketchup.

3- The amount of cash you brought with yourself cannot be changed anymore, it could have been changed before you left for shopping but not now, so this factor is again not in your control.

None of the very few factors out of a large amount of factors I mentioned, that influeces your decision, are under your control.

How can our decision be truly under our control while none of the factors that actually influence our desire, and thus our decision, are under our control?

Your desire to buy ketchup depends on factors that you have no control over. And as Sam Harris says in his book FREE WILL,

"Yes, you are free to do what you want even now. But where did your desires come from?" 

In another words, you are free to do what you want but you are not free to choose what you want.

Your desires govern your decisions and your desires arise from your genes and 

external environment which you have no control over.

All decisions made by you in your lifetime depend on factors that you have no control over.

The non-existence of free will does not mean that you are compelled to do what the universe wants, against your will (as normally understood). No, there won't be a force that will compel you to eat something against your free will. Rather, the meaning of non-existence of free will is the non-existence of free desire. You are not free to desire what you want, and desire plays the biggest role in your decisions accompanied by a few external factors. Like in the case of buying ketchup, your desire to taste ketchup again along with a few external factors (like availability of money and whether you already have ketchup at home) influences (influence is a weak word here because these factors not only influence your decision but actually make it) your decision to buy it. 

But the belief in non-existence of free will comes with a few problems. Like a criminal can no more be held morally accountable for his crimes and hence should not be punished because it was not under his capacity to avoid committing crime. So I'll be talking about this problem in the next blog *if all the factors governing my decision to write it are in favour*.

Update:- The blog talking about criminals is now published. Click here to read. And click on the subscribe option on the top to get updates.