[kazinator]

If your brain made decisions outside of your free will which you become conscious of after the fact, then that would manifest itself as a frequent conflict: we would often disagree with the action that was taken. Because we don't disagree, it must be something that is integrated with will.

Concretely, we are not surprised that our finger moved; we believe we wanted to do that and we agree with that action.

Moreover, this readiness potential phenomenon works on short time scales. The will operates on long time scales. I can plan at 11:55 that I will move my finger at 12:00, five minutes ahead. And then when the time comes, do just that. Still, the readiness potential will play out the same way: the commands to move the finger precede the conscious awareness of the finger moving.

[bengy5959]

Couldn't it be that the unconscious mind influences the conscious mind to make it seem like we agree with the action that was taken?

[kazinator]

Not if the action was planned days in advance.

[wetpaws]

>we would often disagree with the action that was taken

It's not that uncommon

[empath75]

People frequently do things that they don't want to do or didn't plan to do -- most notably drug addicts and alcoholics.

[kazinator]

Note that regret isn't the same thing as "my hand moved without any intent from me, WTF?".

[friedman23]

>my hand moved without any intent from me, WTF?

This is how addiction actually manifests. Put an alcoholic in front of a glass of whisky and often they will grab and attempt to drink without conscious thought.

[empath75]

But that also happens quite frequently and people rationalize it. Do you make a conscious decision to put your hand in front of your face when someone throws something at you?

[istjohn]

The term for that is akrasia.