What would evidence of free will look like?

I think the only reason there is “debate” is that free will is so intuitive and needed to justify institutions like the church and the current state of the justice system.

If you parse a lay description of free will, it’s clear from a 1980s biology perspective, that free will is an illusion. “I chose to pick up the pen” is how our brain rationalize our actions. A better sentence would be “My brain decided to pick up the pen and it made sense to do so in retrospect and I passively observed this process”.

I felt the same way, until I read Reality Plus. This book basically reconstructs philosophy with the assumption that life is a simulation and it’s a good read (if you ever enjoyed a philosophy class).

Assuming it controls for other factors? If you have cancer you probably don’t walk a whole lot.