Friday 22 September 2017

Book Review: Free Will by Sam Harris




Free Will by Sam Harris is a bold, provocative book that holds up a concept that you wouldn't want to be seen supporting in open. 

It works towards establishing that Free Will is an illusion - that all of us act the way we do because of everything that has happened to us or around us, thereby attributing everything to LUCK. So, if you are not a psychopath killer, take no credit for it - you are plain lucky. 

While you can't argue against what Sam intends proving, supporting this book would not be the most politically correct thing. That would, after all, mean you are extenuating all crimes ever committed. 

Free Will equates moral crimes like kidnapping to sneezing, both attributable to things that are beyond our control. The author tries to prove the same scientifically as well stating that our supposed actions can be recorded in EEG 300 milliseconds before we actually commit them. 

The essence of the book is captured beautifully in this statement: "You can do what you decide but you can't decide what you will decide." So much for the FREE WILL. Powerful but not entirely entertaining, I would give it 3.5 out of 5.


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