Benjamin Libet

Does free will exist? Of course, it does! At this very moment, you're reading this profile because you have chosen to do so, not because someone has a gun to the back of your head. (And if it is the latter, we deeply apologize.) Even if someone was holding a gun to the back of your head, it's still your free will to read the profile or get shot. (You chose wisely! You are reading the profile!)

Not so, argued Benjamin Libet. And no, he was not a Calvinist with that predestination mumbo-jumbo; he was a neuroscientist, a son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. Libet's research led to the conclusion that our decisions are driven by unconscious processes. Free will doesn't exist.

Kinda a downer, really. If you believe Libet, all choices are made for us (by our own unconscious, but still). But let's prove him wrong! Take this very moment, right now: we are writing this profile. We are making a choice to write it! And if we decide not to, that's our choice as well. Just look at this: we're gonna abort it in mid