Thomas Smith proclaims the absence of free will and shows his ignorance of Scientific materialism

So, tonight I watched the video from the recent Skeptics community called "Mythicist Milwaukee." One of the events was a debate between Sargon of Akkad and a man by the name of Thomas Smith. He was a collectivist pure and simple with no hint of individualism in his bones. However, this made much more sense once he let his metaphysics show. When he proclaimed all the atheists in the room denied the existence of free will. Using the words "are we not all materialists here.. people are genetics and environment nothing more." Such a seriously scientifically inaccurate view is shocking.

Stating the obvious that genetics and environment play a part in what helps make you whom you are does not equal there being no free will. It says we have limits given to us by nature of our species it does not say we have no free will. All it says is that free will is not absolute and there are limits between the various factors that help shape our internal workings. It does not mean we have no free will at all. We do have free will there have been many studies into the phenomenon. None of them say there is no free will it only means there are limits to it. That we are not able to be gods among other humans.

However, there are some big named atheists whom have said there is no free will in the past. That does not mean Sam Harris and people with his views are correct. When in fact they are not correct at all and Daniel Dennet known as one of the 4 Horsemen of Atheism is one of its biggest defenders. Sam Harris has gone so far to as deny that the self even exists and this is literally insane. It is also dangerous as Daniel Dennet has also pointed out before. As have many people whom are both atheistic and not-so atheistic, but, are skeptical secular humanists. About how believing there is no free will leads to not taking any responsibility. It also leads to people being able to be easily manipulated. For if you have no self than what defense do you have against other peoples insanity?

Thomas rebuked the idea that free will existed by stating we had to have a Soul for their to be free will and all the people intending was scientific materialists, so, where does free will come from. However, scientific materialism only says everything is material and there is no non-material immortal Soul. That we are biological animals and that is all which is true. However, it does not say what that material does or does not do when it is activated and working. It means that equipment is material, natural and not supernatural, immortal or otherworldly. No one whom is not religious and yet still accepts freewill says it is a supernatural thing. Quite the contrary both scientific materialism and the existence of free will is true.

Our free will does not work in the way many probably do think, but, it does exist. We can always pick to act on impulses or not, we have the wiring for being able to either act or not. We might not be able to control everything in our mind/brain and no one thinks we do. However, we do have a certain amount of control and self-control. Self-control is the evidence of free will as free will is self-control. It is the ability to have some certain sense of control over ourselves and from that to take personal responsibilities in life. Free will does exist, it is not as absolute as say the Religious want to believe, but, it is real and concrete. In fact, it is a good thing most people understand the truth in free will because the world would be very chaotic without it.