"even your MP3 player knows what you're going to do"
I know; I thought that was particularly funny (in a middle-class sort-of way)
"Ultimately freewill and determinsm are probably the same thing, and we're just asking the wrong question."
Oh gawd. A bit like particle v.s. wave then.
I suppose that if I want to argue a case for freewill, then I have to delve into the supernatural/mysticism/religion/souls etc or quantum computers to explain how it could exist. Determinism seems a simpler to understand (Occam razor) but seems incompatible with experience and social mores – why would you punish a robot?
It reminds of books by Kurt Vonnegut who seemed to follow determinism. His characters were powerless to affect events, usually ending in disaster of some sort and it's quite depressing!
In slaughterhouse 5, the time-travelling aliens explain that they have seen the end of the universe; that it happens because of an accident with a new kind of time-drive that destroys the universe. The lead human character suggest they choose not to invent the new drive. It's a concept which the aliens don't understand because they see all of time and know this outcome is inevitable.