This is the age-old philosophical discussion on whether free will exists or whether it is just an illusion (the so-called free-will vs. determinism debate). The

This is the age-old philosophical discussion on whether free will exists or whether it is just an illusion (the so-called free-will vs. determinism debate). The main argument against free will is that our actions are directly determined by the state of our brain, and that since we don't have complete access/control to our brains, we don't really have free will. Yes, perhaps. But I do not think that this implies that we do not have any free will, but rather that our choices may be influenced by processes that are oblivious or transparent to our minds. Take the simple choice of picking an arbitrary 5-digit number. It's likely that most people will say the first digits that come to mind as an answer. I certainly did. These numbers may have popped in mind as a consequence of their current brain state. But the thing to remember is that a person still has the choice to purposefully alter or re-consider their response. They are not forced to simply choose what first comes to mind. In other words, they can choose whatever number that they want. So yes, while we may not have total free will -- and there is experimental evidence to support this -- I don't think that we absolutely and positively have no free will either. The truth, I think, is somewhere in between.