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The decision studied — whether to hit a button with one’s left or right hand — may not be representative of complicated choices that are more integrally tied to our sense of self-direction. Regardless, the findings raise profound questions about the nature of self and autonomy: How free is our will? Is conscious choice just an illusion?
“Your decisions are strongly prepared by brain activity. By the time consciousness kicks in, most of the work has already been done,” said study co-author John-Dylan Haynes, a Max Planck Institute neuroscientist.
“We can’t rule out that there’s a free will that kicks in at this late point,” said Haynes, who intends to study this phenomenon next. “But I don’t think it’s plausible.”
Uncle Dave’s obligatory anti-Bush comment [for James Hill] –> Too bad they couldn’t predict and intercept Bush’s decision to invade Iraq.
Because some machine can see what choice we will make ( which I think is B.S. unless it notices the eyes and which one you look at more. Well without probing ) means I no longer have free will? How about a better title that isn’t so fear-spewey. Last time I checked my brain is my conscience and my thought center. So therefore it IS the place where I make my decisions. I have no fear of being controlled by my brain. If I did i would probably be a t.v. Evangelical
#1 is correct. The unstated assumption here is that free will must operate instantaneously or it is controlled?—by what exactly?
Further–what would the brain scans see on left/right decisions made at say 3 per second?
Interesting article/concept/future tech but why skew the synopsis so much.
I also agree its too Bad we couldn’t mount this on our political leaders as they speak to us–but that is the lying module.
My CPU has to perform its processing before it can load it into the GUI, too.
Maybe my keyboard doesn’t really do anything…
Didn’t he borrow that idea from his father?
For Bush it’s more like 27 minutes. It takes 7 seconds for his flunkies’ brains to make a decision, 23 seconds for them to become conscious of that decision, 12.5 minutes for them to explain it, 10 minutes for Bush’s brain to understand what it’s just heard and 7 minutes for him to become conscious of that decision.
Given that an ICBM takes about 30 minutes to travel from Eurasia to North America, I’m so reassured that Bushboy has his finger on the button!
Bush digs aside, we really don’t know how this stuff works. We likely have our minds made up subconsciously before we make a conscious decision anyway. It’s not really relevant, because we can always think about something up to the point that we “push the button”….
Strictly subjective view, of course.
I expect that some kind of scanning device easily could see what I was about to do before I knew, consciously, but the assumption here is that I didn’t really think about it. I think that I do….
Once, about 45 yeas ago, give or take, I did an extremely hairy modification to a piece of radio gear. It worked, but performance was way below expectations. It was quite late in the evening, so I decided to take a shower and go to bed. Halfway through the shower, it just popped into my head that I’d flipped a couple of wires. I went downstairs (as soon as I dried off) and checked. Yup….
I think we all can report doing something like that.
Regards,
Stu.
Wow… thinking about my wife who is “legally blonde”, I bet her choice of which dress to buy happens way earlier than 7 seconds before she is aware of it… I know I can feel the tremors in my wallet before she has even left the house… so really, how much free will does she really have? I guess she means it when she says “I can’t help it, it was such a great deal!”…
There is no such thing as free will… 😀
One day I would like to see (understand that is) the code for the brain’s operating system.
It seems it must contain massive parallel processing to make up for the relatively slow organic transmission speeds and is undoubtedly complex beyond imagination.
There are some fascinating reports on people who had the connection between the two hemispheres cut. It is sometimes done in cases of extreme epilepsy.
Here is a video illustrating a split-brain case.
I remember reading about cases where the two brain halves had opposing views. Weird.
You have probably tried it when opposing thoughts occur in our brain. Don’t do this or don’t eat that – it is bad for you. And we often do it anyway.
It could also explain how you can turn on the “autopilot” for minutes at the time while driving – thinking about something. The result often being you end up somewhere else than you wanted to.
Or do we really not do what we want to? I believe we do what a part of us want to do. The consciousness is just a simulacrum created by the the two brain halves or maybe a million different processes of each brain half – and that is what we perceive as the consciousness – which is no such thing after all.
It is wonderful to know that we are not responsible for our actions. Now go have fun!
#9–Split Brain and damaged brain studies are indeed fascinating. Language appears to be especially affected as in certain conditions you cover one eye and give a person a spoon. He can look at it, feel it, describe it, but not tell you what it is. Uncover the other eye, and he has the name right away.
There are other more important effects, but I was bumped on the head.
“Uncle Dave’s obligatory anti-Bush comment [for James Hill] –> Too bad they couldn’t predict and intercept Bush’s decision to invade Iraq.” – Unfortunately, the Bush “Brain” Scan came up EMPTY !!! You would have had to have scanned CHENEY’S BRAIN to see that decision forming – in about 1997 when he was a member of the PNAC CONSPIRACY !!!
The human brain does a lot of thinking at a subconscious level. When I have a problem I’m having trouble solving, I just think about it before I go to sleep and in the morning I generally have the solution… although sometimes I suddenly wake up in the middle of the night with the answer.
One line in the story asks:
“Is conscious choice just an illusion?”
Well, no, but it is far more involved than we realize. The old “We only use ten percent of our brains” bromide has been widely debunked, but I do think we are normally only consciously aware of about ten percent (or less) of what goes on in our brains. I believe we are in for some _big_ surprises as this kind of research goes on. There will be those who will point to the findings to argue against free will, but I think that view is narrow-minded.
Arguments for free will range from quantum-mechanical indeterminacy or randomness at the sub-cellular level to the pragmatic conclusion that the belief leads to a better life. (Why bother trying to improve oneself or one’s life if it’s all predetermined?) But to my mind, the best argument is simply the amazing variety and creativity people show in their lives, activities and struggles.
Arguing whether free will exists or not is a false dichotomy. Remember that science does not result in black or white results but shades of grey. Suppose they find that 95% of human reactions are predictable with 99% accuracy. Does free will still exist? Suppose they find that the next 4.9% of human reactions are predictable within 75% accuracy and that the last .1% are too random to predict. Those are obviously extreme numbers, but as you get more grey, the answer to the question of free will becomes more complicated. If I’m a salesperson and I am able to predict the behavior of say 20% of the population with 70% accuracy, I become the top salesperson overnight.