> The heptapods have simultaneous consciousness and do not even understand the idea of free-will I'm not at all sure that humans even understand the idea of fr

> The heptapods have simultaneous consciousness and do not even understand the idea of free-will I'm not at all sure that humans even understand the idea of free will either; I've certainly never heard a definition of it that made any sense. Locke famously observed that > the question itself is altogether improper; and it is as insignificant to ask whether man's will be free, as to ask whether his sleep be swift, or his virtue square There's a separate question about whether or not volition is purely deterministic, but people don't value randomness, they value having (many of) the causes of their mental states be internal rather than external, and I don't think they're in much danger of disappointment there.