Where does free will come from?

[numan]

'
Neuroscience of free will

The researchers found that the time of the conscious intention to move T normally occurred too late to be the cause of movement genesis....the subject's readiness potentials (ERP) tells us that his actions start at -2.8 seconds, and yet this is substantially earlier than his conscious intention to move, time "T" (-1.8 seconds). Matsuhashi and Hallet concluded that the feeling of the conscious intention to move does not cause movement genesis; both the feeling of intention and the movement itself are the result of unconscious processing

emphases added
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[dblack]

'
Neuroscience of free will

The researchers found that the time of the conscious intention to move T normally occurred too late to be the cause of movement genesis....the subject's readiness potentials (ERP) tells us that his actions start at -2.8 seconds, and yet this is substantially earlier than his conscious intention to move, time "T" (-1.8 seconds). Matsuhashi and Hallet concluded that the feeling of the conscious intention to move does not cause movement genesis; both the feeling of intention and the movement itself are the result of unconscious processing

emphases added
.

The 'time of conscious intention' cannot be ascertained with any confidence. The best we can do is time how quickly the test subject reports the intention. There's no way to know how long that takes.

 

[Montrovant]

'
Neuroscience of free will

The researchers found that the time of the conscious intention to move T normally occurred too late to be the cause of movement genesis....the subject's readiness potentials (ERP) tells us that his actions start at -2.8 seconds, and yet this is substantially earlier than his conscious intention to move, time "T" (-1.8 seconds). Matsuhashi and Hallet concluded that the feeling of the conscious intention to move does not cause movement genesis; both the feeling of intention and the movement itself are the result of unconscious processing

emphases added
.

The 'time of conscious intention' cannot be ascertained with any confidence. The best we can do is time how quickly the test subject reports the intention. There's no way to know how long that takes.

Another thing to consider is the question of whether a decision being conscious or unconscious is determinative in whether something involves free will. I would think that unconscious decisions can still be considered using free will.

 

[dblack]

'
Neuroscience of free will

emphases added
.

The 'time of conscious intention' cannot be ascertained with any confidence. The best we can do is time how quickly the test subject reports the intention. There's no way to know how long that takes.

Another thing to consider is the question of whether a decision being conscious or unconscious is determinative in whether something involves free will. I would think that unconscious decisions can still be considered using free will.

Yep. These experiments are interesting, but I don't think they have much of not to say about the nature of free will.