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But it (or some other kind of randomness) is a necessary condition.



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This is something I am not sure about. What difference does randomness make? If our "free will" is just random noise, is it really free will? I don't think so. (Though certainly the random noise counters pre destination).

I believe that if we truly have free will, there is an area of physics we have not yet stumbled upon, and that randomness may or may not play a key role. That is, there has to be something more to sentient beings than just the stuff of understood physics that we are made of (at least partially).

There is another set of questions closely related to this in my mind that goes something like this:
Can a machine (we'll say with no biological elements for simplicities sake) be sentient? I think at least this is possible to certain degrees, though the definition of sentient is debatable.
Can a machine demonstrate true intelligence? This may depend on the definition of intelligence you use.
Can a machine achieve a state of being equivalent to a human? That is, have emotional responses, goals and desires, etc?
If the answer to all of the above is "yes", then the question is of course can a machine demonstrate free will? Talking about free will in a machine is easier, since we better understand the mechanics of it.
And a bonus question: If there is such a thing as a soul (or ghost, or whatever you want to call it), and it is not divine, how does it manifest? Is it an artifact of sentience? free will? can a machine have one?

I like this sort of line of questions since biological entities are esentially machines (if you use a definition that does not require the machine to be relatively physically static, that is, if your definition allows for growth and change.)

One more thing: I think within the next 50-100 years we will be able to replicate our brains in machines. That is, we will be able to "download" what is essentially us into a computer. ("Ghost in the Shell" type stuff, it is looking like technology will allow this in the future if there is not some area of physics that we haven't discovered yet). If this becomes a reality, what does that say about free will? Computers are finite state machines. Even with analog components, they would be deterministic with only quantum randomness to introduce noise.