Free Will Thought Experiments from Sam Harris

The following free will thought experiments from Sam Harris allow you to directly experience your lack of free will for yourself. This is always an impactful place to start because it opens the mind and allows space for questioning. Where’s the freedom in these?

“What is truly novel about what I’m arguing for is that you can recognize this subjectively … We better be able to find free will here. If it’s not here, it’s not anywhere.” — Sam Harris

Desires & Decisions: Free Will Thought Experiments (Sam Harris Excerpts)

Pick a City Thought Experiment

“Think of a city anywhere in the world. You can choose any city you want … Pick a city, any city, and just pay attention to what this conscious process is like. Now, the first thing to notice about this is this is as free a decision as you are ever going to make in your life. You have all the cities in the world to choose from, and I’m just asking you to pick one. Now, several cities have probably occurred to you. Just focus on one … Do this again just so you can see what the process is like. Pick another city—can’t be the first—and notice what that experience is like. Did you see any evidence for free will? Now, we better be able to find it here. If it’s not here, it’s not anywhere, so let’s look for it. First, let’s set aside all those cities whose names you don’t know, and therefore could not have picked—because you couldn’t have picked one of those if your life depended on it. There’s no freedom in that, obviously. Then, there are many other cities whose names are quite well known to you, but which simply didn’t occur to you to pick. For instance, perhaps Cairo didn’t occur to you. You absolutely know that Cairo is a city, but for whatever reason, your Cairo circuits were not engaged—as a matter of neurophysiology, Cairo was not in the cards. So, I want you to think about this: were you free to choose that which did not occur to you to choose? Based on the state of your brain a few moments ago, Cairo was not coming. Where is the freedom in that? … You probably thought of several cities. Let’s say you thought of Paris, New York, and Tokyo. And, then you thought, ‘I love Paris, I’m going to with Paris’. And, the last minute you thought, ‘No, no, Tokyo. I’ll go with Tokyo’. This is the sort of decision that motivates the idea of free will: you’ve got two or more choices, you’re picking between them, and it’s just you and your thoughts. There’s no coercion from the external world—you are doing it, apparently. But, when you look closely, I think you’ll find that you are in no position to know why you picked what you picked—in this case, why you chose Tokyo over Paris. You might have some additional story to tell about it. You might think, ‘Well, I had Japanese food last night, and so I remembered it, and I picked Tokyo’. Of course, we know from psychology that these kinds of stories are rather often false. Whenever people are manipulated in a lab, they always have some tale to tell about why they did what they did, and it never bears any relationship to the actual variables that caused them to behave that way … Psychology is replete with evidence that we are very poor judges of retrospectively why it is we do what we do. But, even if you are right in this instance—even if your choice of Tokyo over Paris is based on your memory of having Japanese food last night, you still can’t explain why you remembered having Japanese food last night, or why the memory had the effect that it did. Why didn’t it have the opposite effect? Why didn’t you think, ‘Well, I just had Japanese food last night, so let’s go with something new, let’s go with Paris’? The thing to notice about this is that you as the conscious witness of your inner life are not making these decisions—you can only witness these decisions … The names of cities start to get promoted into consciousness for reasons you can’t inspect, and you can’t choose the cities you think of before you think of it … If you pay attention to how thoughts and intentions arise and how decisions get made moment to moment, I think you can see that there’s no evidence for free will.”

Pick a Movie Thought Experiment

“Think of a movie. It can be one you’ve seen or just one you know the name of; it doesn’t have to be good, it can be bad; whatever comes to mind, doesn’t matter. Pay attention to what this experience is like. A few films have probably come to mind. Just pick one, and pay attention to what the experience of choosing is like. Now, the first thing to notice is that this is as free a choice as you are ever going to make in your life. You are completely free. You have all the films in the world to choose from, and you can pick any one you want. Now, let’s do that again. I want you to become sensitive to this process. So, forget the first film, and choose another. Again, pay attention to what you actually experience here. What is it like to choose? What is it like to make this completely free choice? Got a new film? Do it one more time. Clean the slate, think of a few more films, and choose one. Did you see any evidence for free will here? If it’s not here, it’s not anywhere—so we better be able to find it here. So, let’s look for it. First, let’s set aside all the films you’ve never seen or heard about and whose names and imagery are unknown to you. Needless to say, you couldn’t pick one of those. There’s no freedom in that, obviously, because you couldn’t have picked one of those if your life depended on it. But, then there are many other films whose names are well known to you—many of which you’ve seen but which didn’t occur to you to pick. For instance, you absolutely know that The Wizard of Oz is a film, but you just didn’t think of it … Consider the few films that came to mind—in light of all the films that might have come to mind but didn’t—and ask yourself, ‘Were you free to choose that which did not occur to you to choose?’ As a matter of neurophysiology, your The Wizard of Oz circuits were not in play a few moments ago for reasons that you can’t possibly know and could not control. Based on the state of your brain, The Wizard of Oz was not an option even though you absolutely know about this film. If we could return your brain to the state it was in a moment ago and account for all the noise in the system—adding back any contributions of randomness, whatever they were—you would fail to think of The Wizard of Oz again, and again, and again until the end of time. Where is the freedom in that? … The thing to notice is that you as the conscious witness of your inner life are not making decisions. All you can do is witness decisions once they’re made. No matter how many times you go back and forth between two options—no matter how many other thoughts arise to give color to this process, giving way to one option or the other—the process itself is irreducibly mysterious from your point of view … Everything is just happening on its own. I say, ‘Pick a film’, and there’s this moment before anything has changed for you. And, then the names of films begin percolating at the margins of consciousness, and you have no control over which appear. None. Really, none. Can you feel that? You can’t pick them before they pick themselves … If you pay attention to how your thoughts arise and how decisions actually get made, you’ll see that there’s no evidence for free will.”

Coffee vs Tea / Beer vs Wine Thought Experiment

Why this preference?

“I generally start each day with a cup of coffee or tea—sometimes two. This morning, it was coffee (two). Why not tea? I am in no position to know. I wanted coffee more than I wanted tea today, and I was free to have what I wanted. Did I consciously choose coffee over tea? No. The choice was made for me by events in my brain that I, as the conscious witness of my thoughts and actions, could not inspect or influence. Could I have ‘changed my mind’ and switched to tea before the coffee drinker in me could get his bearings? Yes, but this impulse would also have been the product of unconscious causes. Why didn’t it arise this morning? Why might it arise in the future? I cannot know.”
“Why did I order beer instead of wine? Because I prefer beer. Why do I prefer it? I don’t know, but I generally have no need to ask. Knowing that I like beer more than wine is all I need to know to function in a restaurant. Whatever the reason, I prefer one taste to the other. Is there freedom in this? None whatsoever. Would I magically reclaim my freedom if I decided to spite my preference and order wine instead? No, because the roots of this intention would be as obscure as the preference itself.”

Desires & Decisions

Why this desire?

“People have many competing desires—and some desires appear pathological (that is, undesirable) even to those in their grip. Most people are ruled by many mutually incompatible goals and aspirations: You want to finish your work, but you are also inclined to stop working so that you can play with your kids. You aspire to quit smoking, but you also crave another cigarette. You are struggling to save money, but you are also tempted to buy a new computer. Where is the freedom when one of these opposing desires inexplicably triumphs over its rival?”

Why this decision?

“If I try to make vivid this experience of: OK, I’m finally going to experience free will. I’m going to notice my free will. It’s got to be here. Everyone’s talking about it. Where is it? I’m going to pay attention to it. I’m going to look for it. I’m going to create a circumstance where it has to be most robust: I’m not rushed to make this decision. It’s not a reflex. I’m not under pressure. I’m going to take as long as I want. It’s not trivial. Let’s make a big decision like what should my next podcast be on? Who do I invite on the next podcast? What is it like to make that decision? When I pay attention, there is no evidence of free will anywhere in sight. It feels profoundly mysterious to be going back between two people—is it going to be person ‘A’ or person ‘B’? I’ve got all my reasons for ‘A’ and all my reasons why not, and all my reasons for ‘B’. And, there’s some math going on there that I’m not even privy to where certain concerns are trumping others. And, at a certain point I just decide. The feeling of what it’s like to make that decision is totally without a real sense of agency because something simply emerges. It’s literally as tenuous as what’s the next sound I’m going to hear, or what’s the next thought that’s going to appear? Something just appears. And, if something appears to cancel that something, like if I say I’m going to invite her and then I’m about to send the email and I think, ‘Oh, no, I can’t do that there was a thing in that article I read and I got to talk to this guy.’ That pivot at the last second always just comes out of the darkness, it’s always mysterious.”

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