On Free Will

Modern science is having a lively argument about whether free will exists at all, and how much of it we actually have. Opinions differ, but most researchers agree on one thing: a large share of what we do is driven by emotions — and therefore by hormones. Another big slice of our decisions is made by the unconscious, leaning on the patterns and templates laid down by earlier experience. Only a small fraction, perhaps, is left to the neocortex — the “youngest” part of our brain. And even that is still up for debate.

Did you know that, the moment we make a decision, the body sends special signals to the “logical” brain to make it believe it was the one that chose? Tatiana Chernigovskaya and Robert Sapolsky tell this story brilliantly, if you ever want to go deeper.

Recently I came across a curious hypothesis about how to make decisions, given that they barely depend on reason and logic in the first place. There are many visualization techniques. If, in a state of full relaxation, we picture ourselves in the future — in the image we’re reaching for — and do it systematically, that image takes root in the unconscious. And the unconscious, as we know, can hardly tell our present self from our future self, especially when the picture is sharp and worked out in detail. So when we meet new circumstances, the body and the unconscious — guided by that image — start generating exactly the hormones and emotions that lead to the decisions bringing us closer to it. It works like a self-fulfilling prophecy!

So even if free will is almost absent here and now, we can prepare ourselves for future situations in a way that nudges our decisions in the direction we want. Education, practice, hard-won experience, the mistakes we’ve made, a wide horizon, a growing circle of acquaintances — all of it matters more than ever, because all of it shapes our unconscious, our hormones and our emotions, and therefore our choices down the road.

I always knew visualizations worked, but now there’s an interesting explanation for why, and exactly how!

Here’s to preparing our mind and body in advance for the right decisions! 😎