[MD] experience

[Case]

[Craig]
I was hoping that other MOQers would jump in here.  Maybe they've all been
through this before.  Or maybe they're letting us stew in our own juices.  
If (a) touching a hot stove & backing away is following Dynamic Quality &
(b) calculating whether one can escape through a burning room is being
controlled by static patterns, I can't see why (a) is an instance of free
will but not (b).

[Case]
You got me. I would think there was more free will involved in (b) than (a).
Touching anything that causes pain is likely to trigger a reflex away from
the source of pain. Escaping from a burning building might involve free will
as far choice of exit routes goes but it is unlikely that an able bodied
person would choose to sit and wait for the ashes to cool.
  
[Craig]
Perhaps, as you suggested, free will lies in the feedback mechanism.  If we
make a decision without deliberation, it is a result of whatever mix of
influences & moods currently exist within us.  But this decision is itself
something new to consider that did not exist before.  If in realizing what
this decision is, we reconsider it, a different decision might be made.  But
if conditions C result in decision D1, why would C + D1 result in decision
D2?      

[Case]
One of the things we have learned over the past 30 years is that determinism
does not mean predictive success. As the number of causal factors increases,
knowledge of the final outcome of events decreases. So for example when I go
to buy a new refrigerator the number of factors influencing my decision are
myriad. By the time I get done looking at the options of color and cubic
footage and energy star rating and warranty options I generally just buy on
impulse. But once the decision is made and I am stuck with it buyer's
remorse sets in and I wish I had bought the other one or I am delighted with
the new features. Saying which factors most influence the purchase decision
would be difficult in most cases and unless there is some overriding factor
it is likely that if I repeated the process a different outcome might
result.

I think the difficult arises in determining what the causal factors actually
are.