Free Will Doesn’t Exist

In fact, you were always going to read this article.

A few billion years ago, there was a big bang that created the universe and everything in it. Skip forward until a few seconds ago and you just clicked this article and started reading about free will. It’s possible that right now, you are thinking about turning back and not finishing this piece. Or maybe your interest has been piqued just enough to read on. There’s no way that the Big Bang and the actions you are about to take in regards to completing this article are related…or is there?

Have you ever sat at a restaurant browsing though the plethora of items available for your enjoyment, unsure what to pick when in the middle of making your decision the server comes up and asks what you’ll have? After a little hemming and hawing, or if you are like me, an incredibly funny, well-rehearsed joke, you make a decision and put in your order. Whether anyone asks about your choice or not, your brain has already made up a story about what lead you to pick the fish tacos.

But what if what we call making decisions, is just your brain attempting to justify an outcome that was determined approximately 13.7 billion years ago?

Free will doesn’t exist. And your decision to ask for extra hot sauce wasn’t really yours. This idea immediately makes most…