Seems to me that if we believe we have no free will, the entire concept of punishment as a tool of the law to get people to behave goes out the window.
I've always thought that even if we don't have free will, it is more useful to think that we do have it, because if we stop treating people as if they have free will (and if we stop holding people responsible for their actions as if they chose to perform those actions), then they will start acting more irresponsibly, and the well-being landscape will recede or devalue.
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