Just in case you didn’t believe me, neuroscientist and author Sam Harris has written an excellent piece on free will in the Christmas edition of New Statesmen magazine (which has been edited by Richard Dawkins).
Here’s a screenshot of my iPad copy. It’s worth purchasing the app so you can read the whole thing, it’s only $2.99.
Thanks to everyone who purchased the book on launch day and especially to those of you who Tweeted or Facebooked it. There’s been some lovely feedback. If you get a chance, please drop a quick review on the Amazon page. It looks a bit barren up there at the moment.
I’m thinking about doing an audio version of the book and then perhaps, if I get any questions about the content of the book, a weekly podcast where I can answer questions, have people live on the show to ask questions, etc. What do you think?
Here’s a great list of quotes about free will via Bill Schloendorn.
While they are all great, this one is my favourite:
Charles Darwin: “…one doubts existence of free will [because] every action determined by heredity, constitution, example of others or teaching of others.” “This view should teach one profound humility, one deserves no credit for anything…nor ought one to blame others.” From Darwin’s notebooks, quoted in Robert Wright, The Moral Animal, pp. 349-50.
A big shout out to Suzen JueL (@juel) for sharing this video with me this morning. Whether or not we have free will – and what it means if we don’t – is one of the “three illusions” I talk about in the book. This video is an excellent introduction.
Well the book is finally up on Amazon! I’ve been working on it periodically over the last six months and it’s good to have it out there. It’s obviously a small book – I wrote the majority of it in a couple of weeks – but I hope it’s enough to act as a pointer for people. Once you grasp the basics, this whole topic is fairly simple. There doesn’t seem to be much point repeating the same ideas over and over.
So – hope you enjoy it and would love to hear your thoughts!
cheers
Cameron