Jerry Coyne is right about the harms done by dualistic free will.

Where he's wrong, however, is the idea that fatalism is somehow better. A fatalistic society is a society of the Twinkie Defense, where "my brain made me do it" becomes a fully general excuse for any activity (until someone realizes that "any activity" includes, say, imprisoning people).

Compatibilism--or as Eliezer Yudkowsky likes to call it, requiredism--is the only valid answer. It has always been the only valid answer. It is obviously the only valid answer, and anyone who thinks deeply abo...