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bewitched, you expressed the implication of infinite universes correctly. If all possible outcomes occur simultaneously then it is hard to see a role for free will.
€, I certainly live my life as if I have free will, I can live it no other way. I just live it with the assumption that in the end my "free will" is just kabuki. However, there in the absence of any theoretical framework that would provide for free will I see no reason to suppose that my perception of the universe is correct. For me this is the same as why I am an atheist.
Both the existence of a god and free will are excluded by our current understanding of the fundamental nature of the universe. So, in the absence of any theoretical gaps that could be explained by [god|free will], or any overwhelming personal experience that indicates the existence of [god|free will] to the exclusion of other explanations I see no reason to presuppose it.
Free will requires that if you take a bunch of atoms and stir them together into a really complex stew somehow something magical results and you end up with the mind/body problem. So far, other than our perception there is no reason to believe this true. For me to believe in free will without a mechanical explanation would essentially force me to abandon my atheism since at that point human consciousness would have acquired the essential attribute of deities: the ability to function outside the fundamental physicial properties of the universe.
To clarify one point: I'm not a Calvinist. I do not believe that the events we experience are predetermined. If you took note of the position of every atom in the universe and then calculated their positions one second later with a big supra-universal computer the result likely would be wrong. But just because the processes that move the universe along are chaotic and contain elements of randomness that produce unpredictable results makes them no less mechanical in nature.
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