I really appreciate your thoughts 'rilla.

I could write a reaaaallly long answer but I don't think we would be anywhere close to a conclusion. I will answer with short points:

1. I'm as open-minded as anyone else you will ever meet. I also have a very analytical way of thinking. I have accepted the lack of free will as a fact, but that's mostly for the reason of building a foundation on top of which I can build and expand my understanding of life and the universe. I'm not saying that it's impossible that I will change my mind on that some day, but it's very unlikely since it would necessarily require that I would have misunderstood some of the fundamental laws of physics.

2. I agree 100% that the brain is so complicated that we might never understand how exactly it works. But that's not the point. I firmly believe that in this universe, it is not possible for any living being, no matter how advanced, to possess free will. If there is some alien race out there, one million times more advance than we are, even they will not have free will. I do think that a basic understanding of quantum physics is enough to understand why we free will simply isn't possible.

3. It took me a long time and a lot of thinking before I could accept that freely flowing particles could form something as advanced as a human being. Having accepted that, the lack of free will seems very obvious and logical.

4. Repeating what wufwugy wrote: If we would have free will, then we would still do everything precicely the same way. We wouldn't be 'human' if we wouldn't always choose the action that we prefer the most.

5. The fact that we always 'do what we want to do' will often lead us to trouble in life. We get addicted to things we know are bad for us. We tilt at the poker tables and choose to play badly because we want to do it (because it feels good). Etc.

6. I would also really want to believe that we possess truly free will, but in light of all the evidence to the contrary I have to believe that we do not. I usually don't like to preach about this because I think it might be a little too much for some people to handle.

7. I also believe that there is no such thing as 'meaning of life'. I think that life on this planet is very much comparable to mold growing on a rotten apple - we simply just 'exist' because some incredibly unlikely events took place that formed our solar system the way it is and sparked life on this planet. We might be advanced enough to closer explore our galaxy one day, but I see that just as 'the mold expanding'. The universe as a whole might have some kind of meaning or purpose, and perhaps that's what ultimately should be considered as 'the meaning of life'.

8. You might think from all this that I'm a really negative and unmotivated person, but it's not like that. I'm a very positive minded and optimistic fellow who likes to enjoy life to the fullest. I'm also way more intelligent than the average person (as most winning poker players probably are and clearly many of the posters here), and I think about these things because I can, but also because my findings might change the way I think about life. That in part might enable me to find happiness in places where others would never even think of looking, and it already has.

-P4's