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Wes_W comments on Is there a list of cognitive illusions? - Less Wrong
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In the physical world we may call a set of wheels on a chassis, with a steering wheel, and a motor, a car. The meaning car is very tangible and useful, but cars are constructs in our minds. In reality it is organized metal, rubber, and fuel.
In the environment of the mind we build concepts like cars, but we put together properties like "store of value", "unit of account", "exchange mechanism", "divisibility", etc. and we call it money, but money doesn't exist per-se, although it is very useful to quantify it, manage it, and turn it into a commerce tool.
The same way we feel that time, free will, and randomness exist.
So, if we call some constructs "cognitive biases", others are calling these more elaborate structures "cognitive illusions".
I don't think this is carving reality at the joints.
The free will illusion, at least as presented by Yudkowsky, is that we don't know our own planning algorithm, and understanding how it (probably) works dissolves the illusion, so that "do I have free will" stops even seeming like a question to ask. The illusion is that there was a question at all. The relevant category to watch for is when lots of people want an answer even though nobody can nail down exactly what the question is, or how to tell when you have an answer.
This is a much more specific phenomenon than "elaborate structures", which includes pretty much everything except fundamental particles or the like.
I agree my arguments must be grotesque. I hope to get better by participating more here and reading the sequences so I may be more useful for the community.
Your explanation above helps me fill in the blanks of things I missed of Yudkowsky's free will articles.
It is a little disconcerting not to have opinions like "free will does not exist because..." or "Free will is an illusion because..." instead of "dissolving" issues which requires much more abstract thinking and preparation for newbies like me!