I think we're looking at it from the wrong angle. It's really about psychology and theology. There is no rational reason to even raise the question of why we h

I think we're looking at it from the wrong angle. It's really about psychology and theology. There is no rational reason to even raise the question of why we have free will or consciousness in the first place. We do so because it appeals to our innate human desires that we evolved to follow, such as the desire to feel in control or have purpose. These instincts are so strong and have such an ability to create biases in our mental reasoning that they cause otherwise very intelligent researchers to speak nonsense. The more interesting question IMO is how and why exactly, from a neuroscience point of view, people consistently fail in their application of logic when it comes to questions about the meaning of life like this.