I think the better question is, 'why does it matter?'. We all at least have the illusion of free will, even if everything is predetermined. Effectively it makes

I think the better question is, 'why does it matter?'. We all at least have the illusion of free will, even if everything is predetermined. Effectively it makes no difference to our perception and experience. Looking at psychology, in general we see people who feel like they have agency in their lives are happier, and people feeling like they have no agency are depressed. Our agency allows us to do great things, like spearhead interesting projects or just make our lives better with our choices. Some people will link free will to the conscious experience, but I don't think that's quite right. We all know that we are 'aware'. But being aware, experiencing life consciously, doesn't make a difference to whether we are watching some great cosmic play being preformed. In fact, the way things happen in life, all things being the made up of cumulative events from the past, it be strange if things weren't predetermined. To me personally, a bit of hypocritical belief is necessary to continue acting out the play.