In defense of our lives as biological machines

The preceding pieces thoughtfully argue that we possess free will, both of the type that we would want in the moment, and of the type that has determined the sort of person we turned out to be. Moreover, they argue that this overwhelmingly fits our everyday intuition that we can be free at important moments, and that such moments can reflect our ability to consciously choose to amplify or negate the effects of circumstance upon us. In this piece, I heartily and respectfully disagree with all these points.