I don't claim to have studied this question in any formal sense, but I've indirectly studied some related areas due to happenstance overlap with my other intere

I don't claim to have studied this question in any formal sense, but I've indirectly studied some related areas due to happenstance overlap with my other interests. And while I can't say I know a definitive answer one way or the other, I will say that the more time I've spent pondering this, the less and less I find myself believing in free will. It's just very hard to come up with any kind of mechanism that allows for it, given what we (think?) we know about the world we live in. Unless there is truly some "magic" in the brain, the brain appears to be just another deterministic bio-physical system, operating according to the rules of physics, chemistry, etc. And if the mind is just an epiphenomenon of the activities of the brain... well... where does the "free will" part come from? Saying this brings me no joy. I like the idea of free will, and would prefer to think that we do have free will. But I feel like if I'm intellectually honest with myself, there's little support for the idea.