Free Will

In 1985 neuroscientist Benjamin Libet did a controversial experiment by wiring up subjects to an EEG machine measuring brain activities via electrodes.  He then asked them to perform a simple hand movement when they felt like it.  He also got them to record the time of which they made a conscious decision to move their hands.  Disconcertingly Libet found that the brain activities initiating the hand movement occurred hundred of milliseconds before the conscious decision was reported.  Does that really imply that the subjects became aware of such a conscious decision only after it had already been made?  Does that mean that human behaviour is controlled by neurobiology and environment, and that free will does not exist?  What about more complex decisions that requires logic and reasoning?  Can there be any counteraction, albeit micro, that may offset such decisions?

There are indeed too many loopholes in past studies that renders this a highly debatable topic.  And the subject of whether free will exists or not will remain a philosophical quagmire.  But does it matter whether we can actually "prove" free will?  What matters is whether you BELIEVE that you have the free will rather than you have it or not.  The crux of the matter is, are you "free", and hence having the freedom on how you relate to events, outcome and actions?  Believing you are "free" naturally leads us to act as though we are, and our attitudes and mindset are the agent of change.  As the French mathematician Descartes succinctly put it: "I think therefore I am."  But I would rather be in control of my thoughts and say, "I AM therefore I think."