No one likes to talk about the fact we might all be predetermined in every single thing we do, or about how the concept of free will doesn't make a lot of sense at all.

It's pretty goddamn consequential, as far as ideas go. (That might be a slight pun. Sorry.)

I believe in free will, but I don't even know what that means!

The way I imagine it, roughly, is like a Choose Your Own Adventure. The universe is largely deterministic, but there are branchings. We don't know how they'll turn out. We have clues, sometimes. There's probably a hell of a lot of branching, once you include all your choices and mine and everyone else's and all the animals and so on.

There's a concept called "info scent." It's the impression you get about where a path will lead before you follow it.

I think that's essentially what consciousness is.

The purpose of consciousness is to supply a will with info scent.

The will is capable of branching the universe. The forks start small as little molecular jitters. A neuron fires or doesn't. A muscle twitches or doesn't. You get the general idea.