[bad_user]

My view on "free will" is that it's a non-falsifiable notion.

The universe isn't deterministic due to randomness. In absence of determinism in the universe's laws, free will is at least possible. However talking about it is like talking about the existence of God.

The question is this: what observations can you make that, if they were true, would lead to the conclusion that "free will" doesn't exist? And the answer is, in the presence of randomness, there are no such observations.

Think about it like this: if you could observe and analyze two universes in parallel, almost identical except that in one people have free will and in the other people don't, what differences would you be able to see? And the answer is obvious.

N.B. I'm not talking about compatibilism, which is irrelevant.

[ganzuul]

If you have a will, your will is not free. A slightly corny but apt analogy is one of an empty cup. An empty cup can be filled with anything, but once full it needs to be emptied again before it can accept a new substance.

I think this is a useful touchstone in the debate about freedom of will. - It moves the goalposts so that your requirement is the ability to shed will instead of the ability to pick new ones.