I find it difficult to believe that someone like Steven Pinker believes that his mind is merely a neural network functioning according to physical laws. Someone in his position has to be aware of the impact that political correctness--which I would not call a physical law--has on what he is willing to say.
No free will means the acceptance of the psychology of behaviorism to be consistent with a mentality of materialism and reductionism.If a man is a product of conditioning by the environment, then society and culture is the cause of evil. Then, it is up to big government to make society perfect by controlling the environment and people.
I read something interesting yesterday.
It said that it is somewhat paradoxical that as we have learned more about genes and genetics, people have shifted more and more to the belief that our actions are predetermined by genetics and not by nurture. The study of genetics itself doesn’t lead to such a conclusion. That is only the popular interpretation of what genetics is all about.