Issue 19: Focus On Free Will
“Not to extinguish our free will, I hold it to be true that Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but that she still leaves us to direct the other half.”—Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
What do we mean by ‘free will’? We are certainly constrained in various ways, but are we entirely so? Obviously you can’t just decide to fly by flapping your arms; the laws of the physical universe are going to define the boundaries of your will to a great extent. But within that, how much is predetermined? How much agency do we actually have?
It appears that, if I generalize from my own felt experience, that human beings have a lot of free will. Admittedly at times we may find ourselves in a room with no idea what we came in for, operating entirely on autopilot. Or we may hear our own voice repeating to our child the exact same phrase our mother repeated to us a million times. But in general, our lived experience is that of deciding to do things, based on more or less rational criteria, and then going ahead and doing them.
Neuroscience, however, tends to disagree with that view of how we operate. Various studies have found that a decision has often been made inside the brain/nervous system before it appears in our conscious mind. So our impression of having decided to do something was fractionally after the event, and in those cases our free will seems to be an illusion.
This might seem a perspective that would only be adopted by hardcore materialists, yet the proponents of Analytic Idealism and related non-dual philosophies also tend to deny that free will exists. If consciousness is primary then we are a wave in the ocean of Mind-At-Large. Our perceived individuality starts to look like a comforting illusion, evolved over millennia to protect us from the vast impersonal nature of the consciousness which animates us.
Traditional religions are also not averse to denying our free will at an ultimate level. Christianity might say ‘let go and let God’, but Hinduism goes one further, at least in the Vedantic interpretation, where all action is the play of Brahma, and tells us that our choice to trust in the Absolute is not really a choice at all.
One problem with the denial of free will, of course, is that it also gives us a way out of taking responsibility. ‘I had to steal the student’s money’, says the guru, ‘because everything is preordained and I couldn’t have done otherwise’. Okay, that is being a bit facetious, but it is undeniable that it is hard to hold someone accountable within a paradigm where free will does not exist. The legal system would be faced with a serious dilemma if this view were widely adopted.
Some quantum physicists do come to the rescue of free will, arguing that although certain of our actions do appear to be determined beyond our conscious control, the indeterminacy inherent within quantum mechanics allows space for free will to exist.
Or maybe the whole ‘free will vs determinism’ debate is the wrong framing. We are not separate from the Universe, which implicitly must have free will - if that term makes sense when applied to everything - and therefore maybe the insistence on ourselves as ‘separate individuals’ who have, or do not have ‘free will’ is the mistake.
The links below will give you a basic grounding in the debate on free will. What is your take on it? Please leave us a comment if you feel called to.
Also, if you are organizing an event related in some way to consciousness, you can send it to us and we will feature it if we think it’s appropriate.
Thanks for reading!
Table of Contents
Events
Links:
California Will Not Legalize Widespread Access to Psychedelic Therapy Any Time Soon
5 Key Principles of Neuroplasticity
It’s all in your head: antifungal immunity in the brain - PMC
Ego Death Meditation For The Masses Is Wreaking Havoc
A Duty to Warn About Meditation Sickness? | Psychology Today
New Horizons: Innovative Teachers of Awakening - Daniel Ingram
Psyche Unbound: Essays in Honor of Stanislav Grof - Synergetic Press
Bilingual Brain-Reading Implant Decodes Spanish and English | Scientific American
On the need for metaphysics in psychedelic therapy and research
Focus On Free Will:
Free Will by Sam Harris (Deep Book Summary) | Sloww
Find More Meaning Without Free Will
Yes, We Have Free Will. No, We Absolutely Do Not
There Is No Free Will, No Doership
Has Quantum Physics Determined Your Future?
Why I Don’t Believe In Free Will
Nuggets:
Spike Jonze’s ‘Her’ holds up a decade later - The Verge
The evolutionary origin of paranoia and why it is becoming more common
The Scariest Psychiatric Syndrome
What helps with challenging psychedelic experiences?
Events
Consciousness: Unlocking the Mind - New Scientist Event
Sat, 22 Jun 2024 10:00 - 17:00.
SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street New York, NY 10011 United States
This one-day masterclass in New York City will explore recent research on the brain and consciousness, featuring neuroscientists and philosophers who will consider the discoveries that are transforming our understanding of the human mind. Topics such as the neural basis of conscious awareness, the development of consciousness in infants, neurological disorders of consciousness, and the conceptual framework of the Attention Schema theory will be considered. The event aims to provide a deeper understanding of what it means to be human and the nature of the human mind, while also addressing the implications of consciousness research for the future of artificial intelligence.
Psychedelic Humour: Finding Laughter in Strange Places with Oli Genn-Bash
Thu 27th Jun 2024, 7pm – 9pm BST (UTC +01:00). Online
An event about the funny side of psychedelics. Because let’s face it, we’ve all had trips where we just laughed until we couldn’t stop.
Conscious Life Trauma Super Conference
July 8th to 14th 2024. Online.
These online conferences organized by Conscious Life are usually good value for money (free) with fascinating guests, but one must be prepared for dozens of follow-up emails suggesting you buy the watch on-demand rights. Unless you decide to pay, then presumably you no longer receive the reminders.
This is Your Brain on Psychedelics with Dr. Manesh Girn, PhD | UCSF Tickets, Sat, Jul 13, 2024 at 2:00 PM
Saturday, July 13 · 2 - 4pm PDT.
The Berkeley Alembic, 2820 Seventh Street Berkeley, CA 94710
Dr. Manesh Girn, a postdoctoral neuroscientist at UCSF presents a two-hour event exploring the impact of psychedelics on the brain, focusing on neuroplasticity and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. This event, organized by the San Francisco Psychedelic Society, will include community connection exercises, an educational presentation, and a Q&A session. Attendees will gain insights into how psychedelics can facilitate lasting behavioral and mental health changes.
Links
California Will Not Legalize Widespread Access to Psychedelic Therapy Any Time Soon
California's efforts to legalize psychedelic-assisted therapy have stalled, as Senate Bill 1012, which aimed to mainstream psychedelics by legalizing their use in therapy, was cut down by the Senate Appropriations Committee due to budget constraints. Senator Scott Wiener, the bill's sponsor, expressed disappointment but vowed to continue pushing for the legalization of psychedelic therapy, which he believes can help people heal from trauma and reclaim their lives. The bill faced opposition from the California State Sheriffs' Association and some medical professionals who raised concerns about the government "condoning and facilitating the use of mind-altering drugs" and the perceived lack of robust scientific evidence to justify widespread access to psychedelics in therapy.
5 Key Principles of Neuroplasticity
The brain's ability to change itself through neuroplasticity has been proved to be crucial for improving cognitive functions. Five key principles are essential for harnessing this power: differentiated stimulation, which targets weaker cognitive functions; attention, which requires active engagement; sustained engagement, which involves prolonged practice; effortful processing, which demands a specific level of effort; and novelty and complexity, which involves new learning with a level of difficulty that challenges but does not overwhelm. By implementing these principles, people can strengthen their cognitive abilities and enhance their capacity to learn and function effectively.
It’s all in your head: antifungal immunity in the brain - PMC
The incidence of invasive fungal infections, particularly in the central nervous system (CNS), has increased due to there being more immunosuppressed people and invasive medical interventions. Fungi such as *Candida albicans*, *Cryptococcus neoformans*, and *Aspergillus fumigatus* can invade the CNS by penetrating the blood–brain barrier, using various strategies to evade the host immune response. This response, involving specialized resident immune cells, is crucial for clearing the infection, but excessive inflammation can lead to irreversible neurological damage. Understanding the mechanisms of fungal CNS entry and host immune responses is essential for developing effective treatments for these life-threatening infections.
"Ego Death Meditation for the Masses is Wreaking Havoc." Wake Up, Sam Harris!
This video from the non-profit peer support organization Cheetah House highlights how ego death meditation is causing significant distress and disorientation among individuals without prior mental health issues, emphasizing the necessity of responsible guidance and disclaimers, especially when promoted through popular apps like Sam Harris’ ‘Waking Up’. Maybe going straight in at the deep end is not a good idea after all. Apparently Harris himself has recommended Cheetah House, and they have a whole page of stories about problems people have had after intensively using these apps.
A Duty to Warn About Meditation Sickness? | Psychology Today
Meditation sickness is, as the name suggests, a phenomenon where individuals experience negative effects from meditation practices. Scholars are turning to religious texts to understand these experiences, which can include anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. There is a need for a more comprehensive understanding of meditation's potential risks and the importance of caution in the generalized promotion of meditation as a therapeutic tool.
New Horizons: Innovative Teachers of Awakening - Daniel Ingram
Daniel Ingram is a self-described ‘hardcore’ meditation teacher and author who claims to be an ‘arahant’, i.e. someone who has reached the final stage of enlightenment. He is therefore a controversial figure in Buddhist circles where such things are often held to be impossible for ordinary humans nowadays. This article examines the controversy and Ingram’s motives for making these claims, plus his ambitious new project, The Emergent Phenomena Research Consortium (EPRC).
Psyche Unbound: Essays in Honor of Stanislav Grof - Synergetic Press
"Psyche Unbound: Essays in Honor of Stanislav Grof" is a compilation of 22 essays honoring the groundbreaking work of Grof, a leading researcher in psychedelic-assisted therapy, non-ordinary states of consciousness, and co-creator of Holotropic Breathwork. The book features contributions from renowned scholars and researchers, including Joseph Campbell and Huston Smith, and explores various aspects of Grof's work, including transpersonal sexual experiences, implications for social and cultural change, and comparative studies with Asian religious systems.
Bilingual Brain-Reading Implant Decodes Spanish and English | Scientific American
Researchers have successfully developed a brain implant that decodes and translates bilingual speech in real-time, enabling a stroke survivor to communicate in both Spanish and English. The implant uses an artificial intelligence system to analyze neural activity and identify the intended language, with an accuracy of 88% for distinguishing between English and Spanish and 75% for decoding sentences. This breakthrough has significant implications for restoring communication in bilingual individuals with speech disabilities and sheds light on the neural mechanisms of language processing in the brain. ¡Muy bien!
On the need for metaphysics in psychedelic therapy and research
Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes explains how the integration of metaphysics into psychedelic therapy and research is crucial for understanding its potential therapeutic benefits. This integration involves framing psychedelic experiences through metaphysical systems such as Neutral Monism, Pantheism, Panpsychism, and Idealism, which can help to place people’s experiences into a broader framework of understanding. By incorporating metaphysics into the integrative phase of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, practitioners can better facilitate the processing and incorporation of the lessons and insights from these experiences into daily life, helping people not to feel so lost when they encounter facets of the psyche which can be well outside what they are used to.
Focus On: Free Will
Free Will by Sam Harris (Deep Book Summary) | Sloww
This is a summary of Sam Harris's book "Free Will", which challenges the popular notion of human decision making, arguing that our choices and actions are determined by prior causes and unconscious events in the brain. Harris, as a materialist, contends that our experience of free will is an illusion, as we are unaware of the neural events that influence our thoughts and actions. He also highlights that our desires, intentions, and choices are all part of a chain of causes that precede conscious awareness and over which we exert no ultimate control.
Find MORE Meaning WITHOUT Free Will! | Bernardo Kastrup Explains
In this video interview, philosopher Bernardo Kastrup (an Analytic Idealist, pretty much the opposite metaphysical position from Sam Harris), argues that our choices are computationally irreducible, meaning they cannot be known in advance, and that this is linked to the perception of meaning in life. He suggests that the belief in free will is based on the illusion of personal agency and that life is about witnessing the universe unfold, rather than individual choices determining meaning. Kastrup also notes that the complexity of the universe requires letting it play out to understand its true nature, and that randomness is often used as a placeholder for what we don't yet understand. He’s agreeing with Harris that there’s no free will, but from a completely different philosophical stance.
Yes, We Have Free Will. No, We Absolutely Do Not
Robert Sapolsky, one of the leading proponents of the ‘no free will’ position, debates Kevin Mitchell, a neuroscientist at Trinity College in Dublin, who believes that we do have free will. Sapolsky contends that our biology, environment, and culture shape us to the point that free will is an illusion, while Mitchell posits that even simple organisms have some capacity for agency. Sapolsky: ‘“You ask, ‘Did you intend to do it? …That you had options?’ Most people’s intuitive sense is the answers are yes, and so you have demonstrated free will. But that’s like trying to evaluate a movie by only seeing the last three minutes of it.”’ Mitchell: “Yes, there is some machinery that we use to make decisions; but it’s machinery we use to make decisions. We’re making the decisions.”
There is no free-will, no doership. Choices are being made by no-one || Non-duality
‘Suzanne non-duality’ finds that the concept of free will and doership can be examined in relation to the sense of self, revealing that choices are made by the brain with the sense of 'me' claiming ownership afterwards. Decision-making is programmed and conditioned rather than made by a conscious 'doer.' Without the sense of self, actions flow naturally without attachment to narratives, as impulses arise and lead to actions without a conscious 'chooser.' The implication is that the sense of agency we experience as individuals is essentially illusory, and the Absolute is the doer.
Has Quantum Physics Determined Your Future?
Does quantum physics rule out free will? Some argue that quantum mechanics is deterministic, with the universe having only one possible history, while others propose that the indeterminacy in quantum mechanics allows for choice. However, even if quantum mechanics is indeterminate, the randomness it introduces does not necessarily enable free will, as choices are still influenced by external factors - although obviously the degree of influence may leave room for free will. Ultimately, the question of whether free will exists remains a philosophical or metaphysical issue that probably cannot be resolved by physics alone.
I don't believe in free will. This is why.
In this video Sabine Hossenfelder points out that people generally believe in the existence of free will, yet the deterministic nature of particle physics seems to challenge it. Although emergent properties arise from the interactions of constituents, underlying physical laws still apply. Free will is a complex concept influenced by both determinism and indeterminism. Some philosophers support compatibilism, arguing that free will can coexist with natural laws, while others favor libertarianism, suggesting alternative views that sometimes incorporate quantum randomness.
Neurophilosophy of Free Will
A collaborative project between philosophers and neuroscientists, joining forces to understand intentions in the brain. The idea is that philosophers ought to be up to date with neuroscience, and neuroscientists should understand the deep background debates around free will and causation.
Got Free Will? - by Peter N Limberg - Less Foolish
Limberg argues that free will exists regardless of whether the world is determined or not. He proposes a syllogism that concludes free will exists regardless of the underlying determinism, citing the concept of supercompatibilism, and denying Ariostotelian ‘either/or’ logic. He claims that freedom is a choice and that it is an aesthetic one, suggesting that people must be called to it and have the capacity to decline or accept it.
Nuggets From The Archive
Spike Jonze’s Her holds up a decade later - The Verge
Spike Jonze's 2013 film "Her" remains a thought-provoking depiction of human-AI relationships, showcasing a lonely man's emotional bond with an artificially intelligent operating system named Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson, who recently threatened to sue OpenAI for using a voice very similar to hers for the ChatGPT app). The movie's portrayal of AI attraction, the surrounding existential inquiries, and the complexities of human-AI intimacy possibly resonate even more now.
The evolutionary origin of paranoia and why it is becoming more common
Recent studies indicate that paranoia extends beyond severe mental health conditions, suggesting a spectrum where up to 1 in 6 people may experience paranoid thoughts, a phenomenon that increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychologists are now examining paranoia's overlap with conspiracy theories and its potential evolutionary benefits for human cooperation. They propose that managing excessive worry, sleep issues, and self-esteem can reduce paranoia, and techniques like scheduled worry periods and online cognitive behavioral therapy may help mitigate its effects.
The Scariest Psychiatric Syndrome
Andrew van der Vaart, a psychiatrist YouTuber worth a follow, talks about catatonia, which is seen much less than it used to be in psychiatric hospitals nowadays, owing to medications which reduce its effects. He speculates that catatonia, or ‘tonic immobility’ is related to the evolutionary ‘freeze response’ which many mammals undergo when threatened by a predator. It could be that states of extreme fear caused by various psychiatric illnesses trigger this ancient response in the brain and cause the sufferer to become immobilized like a statue.
What helps with challenging psychedelic experiences?
The Psychedelic Society UK is supporting a study aiming to understand what helps people recover from difficult trips. The study, which includes an anonymous online survey, aims to gather information on the difficulties people face after a challenging psychedelic experience and what interventions help them cope. The goal is to provide a better understanding of the challenges and develop targeted support systems to help people who have had challenging experiences.
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