A famed experiment, by Libet in the 1980s, led many scientists and philosophers particularly those with a materialist outlook to argue that here was proof that free will was an illusion. From early on the result was challenged, and recent studies claim the experiment has been invalidated. Yet the legacy of the experiment persists and many materialists still contend that free will has been shown to be illusory, supporting their belief that humans are machines and artificial intelligence capable of replicating human thought and behaviour.
We often imagine that experiment settles the matter, but should we instead conclude that our interpretation of experiment is a function of our desire to believe its outcome and more generally of our world view? Or can experiment be value free and in this instance finally enable us to determine the existence of free will or its absence?