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DonaldMcIntyre comments on Is Determinism A Special Case Of Randomness? - Less Wrong
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My question was not rhetorical. But it was unclear. Water indeed doesn't feel, as far as we know.
What would it feel like FOR YOU to not have free will?
Would irresistible voices in your head telling you what to do give you that feeling? Would observing your arm flailing about without your input? Would watching yourself reach for your X-Box despite knowing that you should study for a test? Or knowing that someone else can predict your actions and maybe even thoughts before you aware of having them?
Think about all these very different no-free-will cases and tell me what not having free will means for you. Not for water.
Not to have free will would feel like when I am not conscious of the fact that free will exists. I would actually operate the same way as usual. Free will is just an idea that appears when I think about determinism and randomness in the universe. Also, I think about free will when deconstructing the universe and trying to understand how it works. This is because as a way to compare "dead" physical mechanics to "non-dead" I use as a reference the supposed free will I have in my mind (or the feeling of free will).
Summary: Free will is the name I designate to a group of activities in my mind that result in a decision. But it's not a thing or something that actually exists anywhere, but in my imagination!
So, you don't think there is any situation where you would feel like your free will has disappeared? None of the cases I described click?
In all those cases I would feel frustration, anger, and a sense of claustrophobia I think. Maybe a deep depression.