The debate around free will has been raging for millennia and, frankly, isn’t likely to be settled any time soon. But, as this short documentary from BBC Reel demonstrates, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a debate worth having. By interviewing leading thinkers across neuroscience, physics and moral philosophy, the UK journalist Melissa Hogenboom investigates where the intersecting debates over free will currently stand. The film surveys some of the most contentious controversies surrounding free will – from the legacy of the ‘Libet experiment’ to the concept of moral responsibility – to provide a fascinating dive into our current understanding of how and why we make the decisions we make, and what that should mean for how we understand our world.
Video by BBC Reel
Directors: Melissa Hogenboom, Pierangelo Pirak
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Chemistry
Why do the building blocks of life possess a mysterious symmetry?
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Cosmology
Tiny, entangled universes that form or fizzle out – a theory of the quantum multiverse
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Rituals and celebrations
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Astronomy
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Love and friendship
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Metaphysics
Simple entities in universal harmony – Leibniz’s evocative perspective on reality
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Biography and memoir
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Engineering
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