[henry quirk]

"You've shared a lot about what you think free will "is" but, what do you think is it's origin? How does organized matter become endowed with agency?"

Hell if I know.

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"Pardon me for my obsession with understanding how things work, but I deeply believe in an orderly universe of cause and effect."

All the evidence sez C & E is fundamental to everything, yeah.

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"And we don't have to understand how everything works to observe that nature displays predictable patterns-- driving the same events to happen over and over."

On the fairly broad level we operate in, you're absolutely right.

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"I don't think we can understand the mechanics of how free will arises in a biological organism, but I think it's biological."

I think it's 'natural'...don't know about 'biological'.

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"The universe produces a thinking ape, and the ape says, "I'm the best thing." It's a comedy."

But what if that thinking, self-directing ape 'is' the best thing.

You say 'no'; I say 'mebbe'.