There are so many ways of defining "free will" that the results will be uninterpretable. Good luck at drumming up some interesting conversations, though!

@DanHomerick ya true, i should have maybe specified what i meant but im not really sure myself.

@remedyrain Maybe you could start by deciding whether you mean the kind of free will involved in choosing to raise your left arm at any particular moment and the kind involved in choosing to become a teacher or software engineer.

@WilliamGunn i think the kind i meant would apply to both? im not quite sure what the difference would be since they are both choices made by the brain to do something. what would be the difference between these?

@remedyrain One is simple and obviously not subject to a lot of other influences.

@WilliamGunn I would argue the hand is subject to a lot of other influences in the same way the career would be.

@remedyrain In the same way? I would be interested in hearing such an argument.

@WilliamGunn ok: your career choice is inflenced by your brain chemistry which has been influenced by outside factors such as people you interact with, opportinity, and with what genes you were born. moving your hand is also influenced by that same brain chemistry. i guess there could be some magical/spiritial/not understandable force that gives you the ability to alter how your brain chooses what to do. but that would apply to both, no?

sorry if this doesnt mske sense my english is kinda bad + i have no real philosophy background(yet)

@remedyrain If I told you I was going to raise my arm and also that I was going to become a software engineer, would you expect both to happen with the same probability?

@WilliamGunn now you're confusing things. Free will is about intention, not about success.

@DanHomerick It's true that not everything you may will to happen will come to pass, but as a practical matter, how would you know if it's only a thought in someone's head? I could say it's my desire to become a software engineer, but if I never do anything with that intention, is it really my intention, or do I just want to want it? If I said I want to lift my arm but I don't, am I really not free or am I just messing with you?

Also, the requirement for intention seems to smuggle in some restrictions while still calling it free. There should be some distinction between "what you would want if you knew about it" and "what you want given what you know now". The second condition seems to be a dramatically more limited case.