A Rebuttal of Sam Harris and Freewill:
Dec 15, 2021
Sam says:
On first glance, when I have the thought “turn on the light,” it may appear to me that I initiated the thought.
I “decide” to turn on the light and it is that act of deciding that “creates” the thought and kicks off a causal chain to move my body in a way that flips the switch.
But on closer analysis, Harris argues, it becomes clear that I have no access to the reasons why that thought appears before my mind and not the thought “leave the light off.”
I do not bring the choice-thought about.
Rather, at T1, I had both ideas before my mind and then at T2, the thought “turn on the light” appears and I don’t know why and so the choice cannot be said to be made freely.
Clearly, Sam Harris Has NO IDEA What he is doing or Why.
We Say:
This is a Typical Normal Human Being Operating on the Old System 1.
(The Subconscious System) which is Why he doesn’t know.
A more Modern approach is to use the Newer System 2.
It is a Slower but Deliberate and more Accurate System.
As a martial art practitioner, it would not matter to me whether the light was on or off.
It if was OFF, I would merely use my skills as a martial artist and navigate the darkness easily.
If it was On I would not have to do that, or anything else special.
So I wouldn’t even have to choose about the light switch.
But I Would have to Choose Which of the Behaviours to use, Depending on the state of lighting in the room to Navigate the room Safely.
Sam says:
In all cases where I appear to choose, I am actually the recipient of the thought not the cause of it.
We Say:
This is Classic System 1 in operation.
It is a Massively Parallel Interrupt Driven System.
It’s Primary Role is Extremely Wide Bandwidth Data Collection and Fast, Primary, Initial but Simple, Data Analysis.
Sam says:
In support of this idea, he writes, “Consider what it would take to actually have free will.
You would need to be aware of all the factors that determine your thoughts and actions,
and you would need to have complete control over those factors.” (p. 24) We don’t have this so we’re not free.
We Say:
Actually We Do, Under System 2.
The Factors that determine your thoughts are your previous thoughts, It is Recursive, as is the brain itself.
You use your thoughts, to Freely come up with the Principles and Standards and Reasons of your own operation in the world.
You Act according to those. Not to some Unknown Cause.
You Caused them. You Arranged them.
If you didn’t, then you are a puppet to something else.
And It wouldn’t then be freewill anyway.
What most Humans Confuse, is the INTERACTION Between System 1 and System 2.
System 2 has a Top Down Authority Over System 1.
This is called learning.
Remember Learning to drive a car and having to Coordinate Gear changing with operating the clutch smoothly and progressively at the same time in real time ?
Your System 2 was overloaded (it’s called task loading) which is why you found it difficult at first, but over time, System 2 Created Sub tasks in System 1 to Alleviate Itself of having to ‘think’ of the tasks Deliberately in real time, Which is a Slow Process, compared to System 1, which doesn’t have to think, it just executes.
This can All be related to mindfulness and meditation. Which Sam should find interesting…
With meditation you can Observe the ‘suggestions’ or thoughts arising or bubbling up from the lower, older system 1.
You are observing them from system 2 itself.
Mindfulness is walking around, using system 2 All of the time.
Being Careful and Deliberate about Everything.
(often called a walking meditation)
Freewill enables Flexibility in Any Situation.
(or the ability to Ignore the Suggestions of System 1…)
Just because you did something previously does not mean you will do the same thing again or All of the time.
You have to be free of constraint to do differently (or creatively) in Real Time.
Freewill is required for Survival.
It is the ability to adapt and to change. (that ‘Means’ Doing something Different…)
Simple.
If you just listen to the simple system 1, you would not be able to do that. (or survive…)
System 1 is Just too dumb to be used on its own and survive.
That’s Why we have System 2.
System 1 is fast but dumb.
System 2 is slow but more accurate and complex.
BOTH are Needed to Survive.
Unfortunately System 1 is Also the Auto Pilot.
It Takes over when we are busy using system 2 for long running (or complex) functions.
And so If you are not aware of how your own brain works, you will be misled by the dumb system 1.
Ever picked up the wrong thing whist you distracted yourself by thinking about something else ?
Maybe picking up the Sugar container instead of the Tea container (if they look similar)
System 1 knew you wanted to pick something up to make tea, so it Just does the nearest thing it can in the absence of further instruction from system 2.
Once you are aware of all of this, You will start to notice how it all operates together.
You will then Realise What is Actually Going on, and then ‘You’ can do something About it. (with system 2…)
System 2 can be used to Program System 1 with Values, Principles, Morals, and Immediate Actions / Reactions.
These can be programmed Over time and Before Time of Use, so that when under pressure or in a dire situation, Which is Precisely when System 1 will kick in, to Aid System 2, in quickly determining the correct decision In time to be of use and to survive.
Sam also does not realise that the brain is also a relational database and query system, Ideas that bubble up are a result of the natural query that the vision system Requested, i.e. that the room was dark, the background task processing then came up with the solution that the light switch ‘should’ be turned on, but as described earlier, the Accomplished Martial Artist, might Ignore that suggestion and ‘Decide’ to practice their Skills instead.
You don’t have to listen to system 1.
Sam should note that this can be learned from meditation — you may get ‘suggestions’ that you are bored, hungry, tired etc but you can Still Sit there…
System 2 is capable of deciding otherwise.
We have free will.
PS.
The answer to :
it becomes clear that I have no access to the reasons why that thought appears before my mind
Is that You Yourself put it (them — the reasons…) in there, in the first place…
It’s recursive…
And,
The answer to :
In all cases where I appear to choose, I am actually the recipient of the thought not the cause of it.
It’s recursive…
You Are the Recipient of your Own (previous) thoughts and arrangements and schemas…
Again
You Yourself put them in there, in the first place…
We have free will.
End of Debate on Freewill.
Simple.