Free won’t - one of the keys to free will?

A recent neuroscience study showed that the aras of the brain involved with self-control and taking action are separate:

The area of the brain responsible for self-control -- where the decision not to do something occurs after thinking about doing it -- is separate from the area associated with taking action, scientists say in The Journal of Neuroscience.

"The results illuminate a very important aspect of the brain's control of behavior, the ability to hold off doing something after you've developed the intention to do it -- one might call it 'free won't' as opposed to free will," says Martha Farah, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania.

One might indeed. Free won’t has saved many from ruin.

"The capacity to withhold an action that we have prepared but reconsidered is an important distinction between intelligent and impulsive behavior," says Brass, "and also between humans and other animals."

And between prosperity and disaster.

(Hat tip Dr. Jeff Schwartz)