Free Will

This Halloween, a Social Experiment Will Allow Internet Users to Control the Actions of a Real Person

MIT Media Laboratory’s BeeMe is the love child of Black Mirror and psychologist Stanley Milgram’s notorious experiments on free will and obedience.

Smithsonian

How Much Control Do You Really Have Over Your Actions? These Brain Regions Provide Clues

Neuroscientists are beginning to pinpoint the regions of the brain involved in the perception of free will.

Science

The Fate of Free Will: When Science Crosses Swords With Philosophy

In some domains the two knowledge systems are complementary, but in others they might be headed for conflict.

Scientific American

Contrary to Popular Psychological Theory, Believers in Free Will Were No More Generous or Honest

Across all four studies, people who believed more strongly in free will were no more generous (if anything there was a trend in the other direction, toward less generosity), and cheated just as often.

British Psychological Society Research Digest

Will Science Ever Solve the Mysteries of Consciousness, Free Will and God?

Are consciousness, free will and God insoluble mysteries?

Scientific American

You Can Deny Free Will Exists and Not Be a Jerk

New research finds no relationship between ethical behavior and belief — or disbelief — in free will.

Pacific Standard

Believing Addiction Reduces Free Will May Hamper Efforts To Quit

Telling people they cannot control addictive behaviors may discourage them from trying to control addictive behaviors, thereby needlessly prolonging addiction.

Science Trends

The Human Instinct: A Conversation with Ken Miller

Too many people think evolution demeans our species. But maybe evolutionary theory indicates the opposite: our special place among life on Earth.

Behavioral Scientist

Measuring Free Will of Bungee Jumpers

Surjo Soekadar and his doctoral student Marius Nann wanted to know if brain waves associated with readiness potential would look the same in real-life scenarios where the participants were clearly exercising free will.

IEEE Spectrum

Why You Don’t Have Free Will: Your Breakfast Food, Biology, and Culture

We’ve all heard the line “free will is an illusion.” But it may be much more an allusion — to society and culture and our surroundings — than we’ve ever given it credit for.

Big Think

Reimagining the Cosmos

A thrilling, mind-bending view of the cosmos and of the human adventure of modern science. In a conversation ranging from free will to the multiverse to the meaning of the Higgs boson particle, physicist Brian Greene suggests the deepest scientific realities are hidden from human senses and often defy our best intuition.

On Being

Fuelling Free Will

Alfred Mele has spent four years and four million dollars to try to get to the bottom of free will. He learnt that it was like petrol.

The Philosopher's Zone, ABC Radio National

Big Questions in Free Will

Do we have free will? After so many centuries of debate by so many great thinkers, can we still make progress in answering this question? That’s the goal of the Big Questions in Free Will Project.

Closer To Truth