The big idea: could you have made different choices in life?

How did I do over the course of a year? I don't know if I made the correct decisions. I wonder if I could have made better ones.

Could you? A determinist would not say that the world unfolds in an inexorably preordained way. On the other hand, if you believe in free will, you can be sure that other options were available to you. The very definition of free will is when someone says, "I could have done otherwise."

Asking if you could have made a different choice is meaningless. It is not possible to find free will by asking if we could have made a different choice.

That sounds weird. hypotheticals are not relevant if we want to discuss physical reality. Do you think about it? What does that mean if you are wondering if you should have purchased that other car? You pondered it for a long time. A lot of other things, like working out, were influencing your choice as well. A study found that judges are more tolerant after lunch. What would you change in this world where you chose different? Where do you go next? Everything is the same except for my decision. The decision doesn't appear on the rest of the world but emerges from it.

Changing the future is the same as asking about it. What is going to happen is pre-ordained by a determinist. Even if they can make some pretty good predictions about the future, they can't tell you what it will be. We will always lack incomplete information, this isn't just a question of their having information. Computational irreducibility is a requirement for a completely accurate prediction. It is not possible to be completely sure of anything until it happens. When it arrives, we can only guess.

The future can't be changed because the world is deterministic and we don't have free will. This simple fact is not being added by a determinist who says: "That was bound to happen, though I couldn't have predicted it."

The neurobiology of volition should be the real locus of discussions both about 'free will' and moral responsibility

We still don't know if we can act differently in the future or if we can change the future. We are using the imagination of our minds when we do that. The mind is not limited. Emily Dickinson said that the brain is wider than the sky. Our internal models of how the real world works allow us to create alternate mental worlds. They may or may not correspond to what happened. They are part of the decision-making process. The mindmines the present for clues and turns them into anticipations of the future. What minds are for is what that means.

These imagined worlds could happen in the future. Asking the question is what motivates behavioural choices. We are asking about the neurobiology of volition in order to discuss moral responsibility and free will. The point of having free will is not so that we do something differently in the moment, but that we can learn from our actions and make better decisions in the future.

Is the world the same for everyone?

This is the reason why we ask, "Could I have done differently?" It's because we want to know what conclusions we can draw from it. If it is something we regret, the main thing is to see to it that I will not do it again. We can either have self-determining power or be driven by forces beyond our control. Modern science doesn't insist that you are at your own pace. Don't be deceived by the famous neuroscience experiments that show our actions are predictable from brain activity before we're aware of having made the decision; they are a red herring. It seems that causality doesn't always flow from the bottom up in the brain. Neural circuits are the real causes of things. We don't change the future but we are a part of what makes it.

It's the basis of free will worth wanting. Some determinists are aware of this deep down. The claim that the future is fixed except for occasional quantum events that we can't influence is undermined by her remark that "progress in science depends on choice and effort". It is ours to take care of. It is.

The mental leap to this view is both empowering and freeing. It is a source of regret and self-flagellation if you choose X instead of Y. I know what I will do next time. Maybe this year, you'll.

The Book of Minds: How to Understand Ourselves and Other Beings from Animals to Aliens was written by Philip Ball. You can order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. There may be delivery charges.

The Elbow Room was written by Daniel C Dennett.

Making Sense of Freedom and Responsibility is a book.

Being You was written by the man.