Do we have free will?

As a young(er) man, I read the entire anthology of Leon Uris. I was struck by how seemingly good people could commit the most terrible acts, and then return to their suburbs as pillars of society. I estimated that of every 100 people I knew, some two thirds would do these terrible deeds. This was corroborated by my time in the army (1976 to 1978). This study confirms what I expected, and shows that of every 500 people in Linbro Park, 390 would be prepared to kill each other. The obvious jokes aside, this is a frightening thought.

This study is chilling, and forms part of a new BBC series. Do keep an eye out for it when it hits our shores, or buy it it at Look & Listen.

Some chilling excerpts: "how easy it is to make ordinary people do terrible things, that 'evil' often happens for the most mundane of reasons."

"Yet Bill, like 65 per cent of the volunteers, gave an apparently lethal electric shock when told to do so."

"humans have a tendency to blindly follow orders, if they are presented in a plausible fashion by someone who is apparently in authority."

"we are 'puppets controlled by the strings of society'."

This is a summary of the BBC programme:

http://bit.ly/gF6s9R

And here's the link to the actual article, and ask yourself: Are you among the two thirds who go with the flow, or the third who don't?

http://ind.pn/ibqRh5