Unregulated Glucose Can Lead to Diminished Self-Control

Come on … alcohol impairs decision making. This isn't evidence against free will.

This is a VERY weak argument against free will, and as I've pointed our in the past, when you use weak arguments, it reduces the credibility of your overall argument. The free will issue is an interesting one, but I don't think that this study sheds any light on it.

First of all, if you speak of “decision making” then you're already conceding that there is free will, but I'll let that slide.

Anyone who has ever struggled with a decision between a pair of choices knows that the decision making process doesn't usually come down to making a list of reasons to go with choice A and a second list of reasons to go with choice B, giving each reason a weight, and adding up the weights on each side. At least this isn't usually what happens on the conscious level (though it may well be what happens on a subconscious level).

We all know that there are times that we really want to eat that nice calorie-filled dessert and also want to lose weight. That is, we often have conflicting desires. I would not deny that the decision we make may be influenced by things like our mood, our surroundings (are we having dinner with someone else who is dieting or with a bunch of people who have already ordered desserts?), and other things like this. I would also not deny that alcohol (or apparently certain glucose levels) can tip the balance away from strictly logical decision making process to one guided more by emotion. I do not think that this is an argument that free will doesn't exist. It's an argument for what Aarti said when speaking of free will a few days ago elsewhere in this blog: “it is a simple term but needs a deeper definition beyond the colloquial.”

I'm guessing that you'll point out that a decision that is made at the subconscious level isn't being made by US .. so it isn't free will. I'd disagree. I consider US to be our brains (at least as far as decision making goes). So, any decision being made in my brain is being made by me. Consider the case where I actually DO make the lists of reasons for A and for B. I give each reason a weight and add the weights and go with the choice with the greatest total weight. Does the fact that I make the choice based on this process mean that I didn't use free will to make the choice? I chose the factors to consider. I created the weights. If I wrote the algorithm and decided on the inputs, then it seems to me to be my decision. If I notice that the algorithm leads to poor decisions, then I would probably change the algorithm for future decisions (or even override it on the spot). That many (or most) (perhaps all .. but I'm not convinced of that) of our decisions may be based on something like this happening inside our brains does not (to me) violate the concept of free will.

Free will is generally defined as something like: “rational agents exercising control over their actions and decisions.” Since I am of the opinion that ALL of my brain is part of me, then I can't separate subconscious decisions from MY decisions. As cooperati said in that earlier discussion: “Even robots need programming.” Just as I might alter my CONSCIOUS decision-making algorithm, I suspect (I'm fairly certain in fact) that our subconscious decision-making algorithms are also being rewritten (and hopefully improved) on the fly.

Anyone who has quit a habit (be it smoking or overeating or whatever) knows that developing new habits is not easy. I'd suggest that this requires rewiring those subconscious algorithms. I'd also suggest that we can CONSCIOUSLY make the decisions to overrule our impulses (which may be based on the old subconscious algorithms) and in time can rewrite those algorithms. To me, this is pretty strong evidence that there IS free will (but I'm willing to entertain the idea that it is merely an amazing illusion).

“As cooperati said in that earlier discussion: 'Even robots need programming.'”

It was a subtle statement with a critical implication. Glad it wasn't lost. Thank you.

-=T=-

Thanks for assuring me that I was using your words in the way you had intended. It seemed clear to me, but it was subtle so I wasn't 100% sure.