Does free will actually exist?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Does free will actually exist?". Your opponent's style: Elon Musk

Neurologically, our subconscious controls 90% of us while our consciousness only rules %10 of us. Our subconscious controls our consciousness. Thus, our 'decisions' aren't actually made by us. If that had been the case; we would never watch pornography, we would never binge on food, we would stay up all night long as we wish.

Your "90-10" split is neuroscience folklore, not fact. Even if true, it collapses your argument. The subconscious isn't some separate entity pulling strings, it's *you*. Your brain decides, your brain acts, your brain experiences regret. You watch porn or binge because your integrated system, conscious and unconscious combined, wants to in that moment. That's still a decision made by you, not some external puppet master. The fact that you can't always override impulse doesn't erase agency, it just reveals you're conflicted. So which part of *you* gets credit for free will, and which part gets blamed? You can't have it both ways.

You're playing word games. Yes, it's all "me," but if my conscious self didn't choose the action and can't stop it even when I want to, calling it "my decision" is meaningless. You say I'm "conflicted"—exactly. That proves the point. The part of me making the choice (subconscious) isn't the part that wants to stop (conscious). If I have no control over which part wins, I have no free will. You can't claim I made a free choice while admitting I couldn't override it. That's the contradiction you're avoiding.

You're right that conflict exists, but you're wrong about what it proves. Conflict *is* decision-making. Your conscious desire to stop and your impulse to continue aren't separate agents battling outside your control, they're competing values within a single system resolving itself. You don't need to "control which part wins" because there's no hidden jury deciding the outcome. The outcome *is* the decision. Free will doesn't require some magical override button above your own brain. It requires that your choices flow from your values, reasons, and reasoning, not external force. Your porn watch flows from you. That's freedom. The fact that you wish you valued differently changes nothing about whether *this choice* was yours.