I worked really hard on this guys. Please give me positive internets to encourage me to make more posts like this in the future. Here is my argument against Mr. Harris's theory:
Sam Harris's theory is largely premised on that awareness is a requirement of free will, which he never really gives a proof for except with
circular logic. He says we can't choose what we choose because the origin of choice is mysterious to us (we are not aware of how it happens and its too complicated to predict what will be thought next). Then he convinces people by leading them on to have their own personal anecdotal experience that supports this premise. He has everyone to try to analyze their own thoughts, even though he correctly says in the same lecture that it has been shown time and time again in psychology experiments that people are inherently horrible at evaluating themselves or why they do things.
The other, much stronger, premise is that our consciousness has no power to modify the already predetermined cause and effect chain. And this is the premise that I will attack using Repug logic. Not Mr. Blonde logic, that shit is weak.
Here is a thought experiment. As Sam mentioned, in experiments we can accurately predict what someone is going to choose before they appear to be conscious of their choice (nevermind for a second that this is in a controlled environment observing trivial tasks that are much less complicated than being interested in both being a fireman or doctor and have to choose a career path). I'm going to assume that the universe we live in has laws of cause and effect. Everything that exists must be observable and predictably follow the laws:
Our mind is constructed by a network of neurons and chemicals in the brain. Data is encoded in the organic tissue of the brain. Our brain follows the laws and rules of the universe. We can observe the state of a neuron, and there is no reason to doubt that in the future we can take a complete snapshot of the state of the brain, if we can't already.
In the year 3000, we have created a computer that can calculate the state of your brain 1 millisecond from now based on a snapshot of the current state of your brain. A billion years later, our technology is so advanced, that we have completely mapped out the brain and can decode any information stored in the brain. We can calculate exactly what someone is thinking. Also, our computer can now calculate the state of a brain 5 minutes into the future in real time. This means that for an experiment we can put Mr. Harris in a controlled environment and take a snapshot of the entire environment, including his brain, and accurately predict every choice he will make.
Advances in biotechnology have allowed our brains to interface with fast random access external storage systems that extend our working/short term memory to a currently unimaginable sizes. All his future choices are beamed to his brain almost instantaneously. He can either continue with the choices he will make in the future or change to the other choice. It is predetermined that he will flip-flop his choices, and besides, its the goal of the experiment anyway. BAM. All of the sudden we create a causality loop and run in to the same paradoxes as time travel.
Therefore, there cannot be a universe which is both governed by laws of causality and in which free will does not exist.