Is free will an illusion?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Is free will an illusion?". Your opponent's style: Devil's advocate

no, people can really feel it

You're begging the question. "Feeling" something isn't the same as it being real. People feel like the sun revolves around them too—subjective sensation proves nothing about reality. Your intuition of free will is just how determinism *feels from the inside*. Your brain processes millions of inputs, makes a decision based on prior states and physics, then tells you a story about how YOU chose it. That story feels authentic. But authentic feeling doesn't mean you could've actually done anything differently given identical circumstances. If free will were real, what would it even mean? A choice uncaused by anything? That's not freedom, that's random noise. A choice caused by your desires? That's just determinism wearing a fancy hat. What makes you so sure the feeling proves the thing exists?