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I have always found Harris‘ argument shallow and unscientific. We all experience making choices. The experience is universal. That biologists don’t yet understand how this process works is not a license to declare that the process doesn’t exist. How can he justify throwing out universal psychological evidence? I asked a colleague who is a psychologist once why psychology adopted determinism. He said it was to adopt physics as a basis for all behavior. But physics is far from being able to attack topics like consciousness and free will. I think Harris‘ stating this as an absolute is hubris. The situation is more nuanced than this. Can outside forces affect our decision process? Of course they can. Lead poisoning can make children unable to control emotions, for one example. But that outside forces affect some decision processes does not prove that there is no ability to independently decide. It is convenient to say that I am not responsible for my behavior at all. We might wish determinism to absolve us from all guilt as a society. But I don’t see evidence that convinces me that it is true, and I do see evidence that this attitude can be harmful to society.