Excellent article for anyone interested in determinism.
Geography of Aging and the Illusion of Self
How aging has thought us the importance of geography
Post published by Mario D Garrett PhD on May 04, 2015 in iAge
I think of myself as an entity, as “me.” Separate and distinct from “them” and the outside world. This “me” allows my mind to cleverly edit, interpret and re-interpret the world as though I am consistently at the center of everything that I interact with. My mind also draws a linear story-line from my childhood directly to my older-adulthood. I do not have to think about it because my mind automatically narrates a story for me that is complete where I am at the center and the rest is on the periphery. A story of “me” and “them”, a logical relationship. I have an explanation for everything even though most events in my life are outside of my control. This gives me the impression that I am “me”, separate, distinct and unique, and then there is a “them” an outside. I have conscious will and participate in the world as a free unique and independent agent.
But this belief is a mirage, an illusion of the mind. The idea that we are separate from others is not the complete picture, and this knowledge is just now starting to be exposed. To re-envisioning who we are we have to understand how the “me” came about. This is a radical idea. Such radical ideas have happened before in our collective history and they have changed how we think about who we are.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/iage/201505/geography-aging-and-the-illusion-self
To the illusion of ‘I’ belongs the illusion of libertarian free will.
But that does not touch the compatibilist definition of free will at all.
And BTW, you believe in free will. See my remarks and questions here].
This reminds me of Dawkins’ Extended Phenotype, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Extended_Phenotype
Not the same, but related such that we can be looked at as our interactions with our environment, not just our bodies.