Free will might be an illusion based on recent neuroscience studies

“By moving past the "noble lie," we can construct a robust, transparent framework of consequentialist responsibilityplato.stanford.edu. In this model, we do not punish a person because they possess transcendent, supernatural guilt; we hold them accountable because human minds are physically malleable systems that respond to incentives, deterrents, and rehabilitative structures.”

“patterns of brain activity in the prefrontal and parietal cortices could predict a participant's choice between two buttons up to seven seconds before the participant became consciously aware of their own decision.”

“Bramhall argued that true agency requires "liberty of contrariety"—the genuine power to choose between A or B. Hobbes countered that such "liberty" is an illusion. Every volition is caused by a prior cause, which has its own cause, tracing back to the First Cause (God).”

“Philosopher Saul Smilansky argues for a position known as illusionism. He contends that while libertarian free will is an illusion, humanity requires this illusion to maintain self-respect and moral cohesion. In his work Free Will and Illusion, Smilansky suggests that exposing the truth about determinism would be socially catastrophic.”

“weakening belief in free will correlates with an increase in cheating and a decrease in helpful behavior.”

“This temporal gap suggests that the conscious mind is not the initiator of action, but rather an observer to a decision already set in motion by subconscious neural machinery.”

“If the action flows from your own desires, the lack of alternative pathways may not matter.”

“libertarian free will—the idea that agents can cause actions independently of prior physical events—”