Some literary person or another came to a similar conclusion, along the lines of, the world appears to exist, so I shall behave as though it does.

A couple of years ago I played around with Ramesh Balsekar’s teaching against free will. He argues that as a result of dependent arising, karma, genetics, environment, there is no free will, but there is choice–you will choose what you’re programmed to. He presented it as if it was the essence of freedom… Surprisingly, it was rather freeing, an enjoyable way to spend a couple of days, free from the demands of a self that has ultimate responsibility for everything.

Yet programmed or not, we must make choices. You’re right, the answer is “yes.” Since free will appears to exist, it makes sense to act as if it’s there. But there’s freedom in not taking the little self that appears to act too seriously.