Libet Quotes & Sayings

...sola est quies,
mecum ruina cuncta si video abruta;
mecum omnia abeant. Trahere cum pereas, libet.
(...the only calm for me -
if with me I see the whole universe o'erwhelmed in ruins;
with me let all things pass away; 'tis sweet to drag others down when thou art perishing.) — Seneca.

This and other experiments prove that the brain makes its own decisions on a subconscious level, and people only later feel that "they" have performed a conscious decision. It means that we go through life thinking that, unlike the blessedly autonomous operations of the heart and kidneys, a lever-pulling "me" is in charge of the brain's workings. Libet concluded that the sense of personal free will arises solely from a habitual retrospective perspective of the ongoing flow of brain events. — Robert Lanza

This means that, in some sense, free will is a fake. Decisions are made ahead of time by the brain, without the input of consciousness, and then later the brain tries to cover this up (as it's wont to do) by claiming that the decision was conscious. Dr. Michael Sweeney concludes, "Libet's findings suggested that the brain knows what a person will decide before the person does. ... The world must reassess not only the idea of movements divided between voluntary and involuntary, but also the very idea of free will." All this seems to indicate that free will, the cornerstone of society, is a fiction, an illusion created by our left brain. So are we masters of our fate, or just pawns in a swindle perpetuated by the brain? — Michio Kaku