The debate around free will has been raging for millennia and, frankly, isn’t likely to be settled any time soon. But, as this short documentary from BBC Reel demonstrates, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a debate worth having. By interviewing leading thinkers across neuroscience, physics and moral philosophy, the UK journalist Melissa Hogenboom investigates where the intersecting debates over free will currently stand. The film surveys some of the most contentious controversies surrounding free will – from the legacy of the ‘Libet experiment’ to the concept of moral responsibility – to provide a fascinating dive into our current understanding of how and why we make the decisions we make, and what that should mean for how we understand our world.
Video by BBC Reel
Directors: Melissa Hogenboom, Pierangelo Pirak
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Animals and humans
Why be dragons? How massive, reptilian beasts entered our collective imagination
58 minutes
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Rituals and celebrations
Flirtation, negotiation and vodka – or how to couple up in 1950s rural Poland
5 minutes
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Technology and the self
In the town once named Asbestos, locals ponder the voids industry left in its wake
16 minutes
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Biology
How the world’s richest reds are derived from an innocuous Mexican insect
5 minutes
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Cities
A lush, whirlwind tribute to the diversity of life in a northern English county
3 minutes
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Physics
The abyss at the edge of human understanding – a voyage into a black hole
4 minutes
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Stories and literature
Robert Frost’s poetic reflection on youth, as read in his unforgettable baritone
5 minutes
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Sex and sexuality
After a sextortion scam, Eugene conducts an unblushing survey of masturbation
14 minutes
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Language and linguistics
Closed captions suck. Here’s one artist’s inventive project to make them better
8 minutes