FREE AGENTS

A geneticist and neuroscientist presents a thorough scientific exploration and defense of free will.

Mitchell, author of Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are, uses an evolutionary approach to the question of free will in human beings, synthesizing extensive research findings in multiple scientific and philosophical disciplines. The book, he writes, “is not meant to be an exhaustive intellectual history but instead an overview of things as I see them…an extended argument for a way of thinking about the issue of agency.” The author opens his appealing narrative with the beginning of life in hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, and he engagingly examines the evolution of living things within the context of evolutionary creativity, positive and negative selection, and signal response in organisms. Mitchell determines that the brain is capable of self-guidance and that free will is an evolved function of biology dependent on neural resources rather than the result of a mystical, intelligent designer. Because the author operates along complex, interdisciplinary planes, readers completely unfamiliar with organic chemistry, biochemistry, and other sciences may need to tread carefully. Yet the dynamic evolutionary processes Mitchell describes and the connections he makes throughout are well worth the effort, and the numerous easy-to-understand illustrations are at once immensely clarifying and edifying. In addition to diving into the hard sciences, Mitchell also discusses the moral, legal, and philosophical ramifications of free will. Human beings, he argues convincingly, must be responsible for their actions. The epilogue about artificial intelligence and its limitations is timely and significant, though the question of whether building an intelligence that approximates agency should be done is left open for now. Mitchell's compelling and absorbing book acts both as a synthesizing primer about evolution and a powerful argument for free will. Its importance and quality are undeniable.

A bold, brilliant must-read that should reach a large audience.