I’m also enjoying the conversation. Thank you.

free will that is controlled by laws isn’t free will

I don’t think the laws restrict free well, so much as they establish the consequences for each choice.

“Thou shalt not kill” is not a declaration of what is physically possible. There’s an “or else XYZ will happen” that goes along with it. You can still choose to kill (and some people do). But you also choose the consequences that were established by those laws.

What is there to distinguish between different choices if they all end up having the consequences? There’s an old viral image (I think it is a comic) of two hallways leading to the same room with the caption “the illusion of free choice.” In order for there to be freedom of choice, the consequences of each choice must be different. The hallways need to go somewhere different, and they also cannot be identical, or else there is no real choice.

I think there are many ways in which laws enhance our ability to choose, not restrict them. There are a near-infinite number of combinations of moves you can choose from in a game chess, but you first need to learn the rules of how the game is played and what each piece does. Children thrive and feel more safe to explore and play when their parents stick to a routine with meals and bedtimes at the same time each day.