Mind Over Masters: The Question of Free Will

Do we make conscious decisions? Or are all of our actions predetermined? And if we don't have free will, are we responsible for what we do? Modern neurotechnology is now allowing scientists to study brain activity neuron by neuron to try to determine how and when our brains decide to act. In this program, experts probe the latest research and explore the question of just how much agency we have in the world, and how the answer impacts our ethics, our behavior, and our society.

This program is part of the Big Ideas Series, made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.

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Original Program Date: May 30, 2015
Host: Emily Senay
PARTICIPANTS: Christof Koch, Tamar Kushnir, Alfred Mele, Azim Shariff

Emily Senay Introduction. 00:00

Participant Introductions. 03:39

What were the experiments that prove that free will doesn't exist. 05:12

In house veto experiment 09:02

Three types of Free Will 10:30

Free will and Catholicism 18:19

Determining the probability's of what will happen. 25:24

What does a post free will world look like? 29:35

Studies to see if free will determines unethical behavior. 33:20

Free Will and punishment. 41:33

The origin of free will... children? 43:00

Does Free Will exist? 55:06

A Libet style experiment 58:50

Is empathy a part of free will? 01:02:25

Does free will require consciousness. 01:07:52

If there is no free will how can you test it? 01:15:02

Utopia vs dystopia. 01:16:50