From Paul Mealing
You report John-Dylan Haynes finding it possible to detect a decision to press a button up to 7 seconds before subjects are aware of deciding to do so (19 April, p 14). Haynes then concludes: “I think it says there is no free will.”
In the same issue Michael Reilly interviews Jill Bolte Taylor, who says she “was consciously choosing and rebuilding my brain to be what I wanted it to be” while recovering from a stroke affecting her cerebral cortex (p 42). Taylor obviously believes she was executing free will.
The brain is very good at delegating tasks to the subconscious to make them effectively automatic. A good example is walking: we never consciously think about taking a step, as we did when learning to walk. If we did, we wouldn’t be able to walk and talk at the same time. We do it with language as well: writing this, I don’t have to consciously place every word.
If free will is an illusion, Taylor’s experience suggests that the brain can subconsciously rewire itself while giving us the illusion that it was our decision to make it do so. There comes a point where the illusion makes less sense than the reality.
Advertisement
Melbourne, Australia
