What a trip!  I don't even know what to say except I love this one, everything about it!  Concept, mix, instruments and narration.  

@Starise: Thanks Tim!  To be honest, I am not sure which side of the mental debate I agree with, but it's interesting to think about, philosophically.  As for the music, thanks for your kind words.  This started as a "subtractive production" exercise, trying to create a misleading rhythm in the intro, then revealing the bigger picture gradually.  Afterwards, I decided to add the piano, which is what I think gives it the jazz vibe.  I admit I'm not the best pianist, but I guess I found some chords and riffs that seemed to work with the "dancy" rhythm underneath.
 
@philz: Thanks Phil!  I appreciate your time and ears. :)
 
@Wouter Schijns: Thanks for your creative imagery, always appreciated. :)  The bass is actually played on my keyboard for this one (although I often play one of my electric basses).  I just loved the sound I get from the Scarbee Rickenbacker Palm Mute intrument in Kontakt, and decided to go with it.
 
@Bob Oister: Thanks Bob!  I seem to go for "clever" when I can, and just hope I don't go too far in that direction.  As for the main song vibe, "chill" is at the center of the dial these days, and this one has a sprinkling of "jazz" and "dance" to go with it.  Glad you enjoyed it. :)
 
@ohgrant: Appreciate your taking the time to listen Grant, and thanks for your comments!  As for a solo instrument, there is a lead guitar track that plays for much of the first half of the song, and piano that solos for the 2nd half of the song.  They're not as "in your face" as might be in a rock or pop tune, but something more up front or aggressive might change the vibe of the song too much.
 
@theguitarplayer: Thanks John!  Yeah, the philosophy stuff is a bit of a brain burner, but I'm hoping not to focus too much on the philosophical content, and just sort of acknowledge that there's something to think about if one desires to do so.  As I mentioned to Tim above, I don't have any firm feelings on the subject myself, and am trying to stick to the music. :)  In any case, I'm glad you enjoyed the improv!
 
@Rimshot: Hey Jimmy, thanks. :)  You may be right about the saturation on the piano (and maybe other things too).  I'm thinking about making the mix a bit drier.  Your ears are appreciated.
 
@evadianepug: Thanks Warren!  If someone had played this song for me 10 years ago and said it was going to be ME, I'd have laughed in their face. ;)  I've been charting into some new musical territory in recent years.  So far it's been a fun ride!
 

Walt,
Nice song, well mixed.  Cool groove. 

This is so awesome.  Just the instrumental grooves alone would have been perfect, but i like the spoken bit choices.  I've thought about doing something like this but haven't found vocal phrases that seemed a good fit.  This is ideal.
 
Well done!

Great concept Walt. It's a testimony to the song that I feel like playing along and adding my own parts.
If you felt like taking it further you could add more to the spoken debate, but that would just be adding more bits (see last sentence).
I think it sounds great, mixed and played well, and is one of my favourites on this site at the moment.

Love it!  P-Bass with a pick?  Tell me about the drum loop.  Did you make it?  Very, very, cool.  Great air and wide stereo.   Would love to hear about the ingredients. Double thumbs up!  It's done already!
Thanks!

The timer has dinged, this one is cooked to perfection....in my opinion.  Yeah, I liked this and it had very cool jazzy vibe to it.  I love when spoken word is synced in to music like this, very infectious.  Great lyrics and very nice to listen to.  Great job!

@michaelhanson: Thanks Mike, glad you liked it. :)
 
@cwestmont: Thanks CW.  I searched around a bit on the Internet Archive, looking for public domain audio clips.  I found the Free Will debate and listened for a few hours, and eventually picked out some short snippets, which I edited down and used in the song with some tempo-synched delay.
 
@rebel007: Glad you got into the groove!  But as for adding more spoken parts, I wanted to keep it relatively simple, and not too controversial along the way.
 
@jmasno5: Thanks John.  Sorry to say that this was one track that I actually did NOT play a physical bass on.  The bass is this one: http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/guitar/scarbee-rickenbacker-bass/
I just love the sound of it and decided to use it on this song.  Besides that, I also used Arturia Spark for the main drum kit, Addictive Drums 2, Reaktor (Rhythmaker/Levvo), and NI Cuba for additional percussion, AAS Lounge Lizard and Scarbee Mark I electric pianos, Zero-G Epica (Dream Pad patch), Colossus (for some vocal "ooh" samples, which I chopped up considerably), and finally some Alicia's Keys (piano, obviously) for the solo bit at the end.  The only actual physical instrument that I played was the guitar (on my Fender Strat, plugged into NI Guitar Rig 5).
 
As far as the drum loops go, I started with a few different ones that I got from the Spark synth, but then I think I modified one or two of them in some small ways.
 
@CreatingNoise: Thanks Tony, glad you liked it!  It was definitely fun for me to make it.

Yeah, sounds finished to me!  Great chill vibe happening, and the spoken word sounds made to order.   
 
About the only thing that stood out was that last little keyboard line poking through at the end.  

Walt Collins
 
 
@jmasno5: Thanks John.  Sorry to say that this was one track that I actually did NOT play a physical bass on.  The bass is this one: http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/guitar/scarbee-rickenbacker-bass/
I just love the sound of it and decided to use it on this song.  Besides that, I also used Arturia Spark for the main drum kit, Addictive Drums 2, Reaktor (Rhythmaker/Levvo), and NI Cuba for additional percussion, AAS Lounge Lizard and Scarbee Mark I electric pianos, Zero-G Epica (Dream Pad patch), Colossus (for some vocal "ooh" samples, which I chopped up considerably), and finally some Alicia's Keys (piano, obviously) for the solo bit at the end.  The only actual physical instrument that I played was the guitar (on my Fender Strat, plugged into NI Guitar Rig 5).
 
As far as the drum loops go, I started with a few different ones that I got from the Spark synth, but then I think I modified one or two of them in some small ways.

Well you put it all together and that is one cool piece of art.   Yes, I own 6 basses but I almost bought the Scarbee Rick when it was on sale at NI.  Maybe next time I will.  Thanks.