GOT Free will??

The ability of a bird to fly has always reminded us of the feeling of being free. We think that a bird is not constrained to one particular location, and that it can move freely from one place to another; hence that is our perception of freedom.  But, in reality, a bird is constrained by other factors, and spends most of it's life finding food, mating, nesting, and feeding their young.  So are they truly free?

The definition of Free will: refers to the power of acting freely without constraints or fate involved.

In the movie RoboCop 2014, there is a famous quote made by Dr. Dennett Norton; "When the machine fights, the system releases signals into Alex's brain, making him think he's in control, but he's not. It's the Illusion of Freewill." This quote reminds me of our own physiological reaction called the Fight-or-Flight response; during a situation that threatens our survival, our brain releases chemicals (hormones) to different areas of our body that either activates or deactivates our physiological responses. So, During this time of action, are we really in control of our own decisions? 

Professionals say that our personal health, structure of our brain, behavior, and physiological reactions including the Fight-or-Flight response have been encoded in our genes.  Because our genes have dictated who we are as individuals, this in its self constrains the choices that we make in life.  

Our thoughts emerge without us even being aware of such thoughts; for example, when movement in our body is initiated, multiple areas of our brain are activated. Beginning with our frontal lobe which plans the movement and pathways sending information to the Premotor Cortex, which is responsible for deciding and preparing the corresponding muscles to move (arm, leg, head, etc.). This information is then received by the Primary Motor Cortex and is relayed to the spinal cord which activates motor neurons who's role is to activate corresponding muscles.  

We always believe that our thoughts of movement always come before the action of movement. But studies have actually shown that brain activity linked to movement starts way before we even think and make the decision to move.  This great example is one reason why the free will to make our own decision is an illusion; even though we feel that we are in control of our own movements (deciding when to move or not to move), we are not, and some how our brain had already initiated the brain activity whether or not we had made the choice. This seems very similar to the things that happen to our body during the Fight-or-Flight response, or when other reflex actions take control of our decisions.  No wonder why sometimes we cannot explain why our body reacted in a certain way after a stressful event!

Videos

Free will= Delusion
examples


Citations

Images:
Rhawn, Joseph. Frontal Lobes Senior Executive of The Brain and Personality. Digital image. Brainmind. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Sept. 2014. http://brainmind.com/BrainLecture7.html.

A bird with a free sign. N.d.