Nature News reports that a bunch of interdisciplinary studies of free will is being funded (to the tune of $4.4 million) by the Templeton Foundation. (This has actually been under way for about a year now.)
The article leads with a description of fMRI studies by John-Dylan Haynes in Berlin which purports to show that actions are predictable by brain activity that occurs up to six seconds before an agent is conscious of choosing the actions. (Haynes's work is a refinement of Benjamin Libet's famous studies.)
Adina Roskies (Dartmouth) responds: "All [this] suggests is that there are some physical factors that influence decision-making." Al Mele explains compatibilism. But Haynes "stands by his interpretation," Nature says.
Mele is directing the project, which involves Roskies, Walter Glannon (Calgary), prominent neuroscientists, Michael Gazzaniga and Patrick Haggard--and doubtless many others not mentioned in the article.
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