Is Free Will An Illusion? Discussion Night

Is Free Will an Illusion?

This week at Questions That Matter, we’re taking on something almost all of us take for granted: free will.

Neuroscience doesn’t exactly help our confidence. The brain often initiates actions before we consciously “choose” them — but whether that makes ‘conscious will’ irrelevant is still debated.

Tonight, we’ll dig into the space between what fires in the brain and the story the mind tells us afterward.

We’ll also explore a different question: not whether free will exists, but whether we’ve ever actually used it. Most of our lives run on habit loops, emotional reflexes, cultural scripts, and inherited fears we never chose. We wake up inside patterns shaped by family, biology, advertising, trauma, convenience, comfort — and everything we’ve never questioned.

“Experts in ancient Greek culture say that people back then didn't see their thoughts as belonging to them. When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love. Now people hear a commercial for sour cream potato chips and rush out to buy, but now they call this free will. At least the ancient Greeks were being honest.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby

“You can do what you decide to do — but you cannot decide what you will decide to do.”
― Sam Harris, Free Will

Some of our questions and potential discussion points for the evening:

1. If you learned for certain we’re simulated, would you take the red pill — or cling to the comfort of not knowing?

2. Is free will something we possess — or something we practice?

3. How would you tell the difference between a real choice and one manufactured outside your awareness? If we wanted to break our conditioning, where would we even start?

4. Your phone knows what you'll click before you do. Your streaming service predicts what you'll watch. When your desires are being shaped by optimization algorithms, where does 'your choice' begin and their engineering end?

5. Think of someone you've judged harshly - for being lazy, making bad choices, failing to change. If their actions were largely determined by biology and environment, how much of your judgment still makes sense?

6. What decision could prove to you — tonight — that Free Will is real?

As usual, the goal of the night isn’t simply to agree, disagree, or learn. It’s also to connect through genuine, lively, interactive discussion and, potentially, to go to some of the unexpected and uncharted places that deep and free conversation can take us.

When we wrap up, around 8 p.m., we hope you’ll mingle, exchange numbers, and head out with some of us for something to eat or drink. As polarized as the world is right now, one of the deepest connections still available to human beings is a shared meal or drink.

Whether you’re in Chiang Mai for a short visit or you’re a longer term expat or resident, we hope you can join us, not only in exploring the deeper questions but in making new connections and friendships through the discussions.

If possible, please support the venue, 4seas, by purchasing a beverage or a snack. They are kindly providing the space to us at no charge.

We all look forward to meeting you!