Is free will a myth? | The Gray Area

We all think of ourselves as authors of our lives. The difference between our happy ending and someone else’s tragic one are the choices we each make. But what if none of that’s true?

Sean’s guest today is Robert Sapolsky, a biologist and neuroscientist at Stanford University and author of Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. They dig into Sapolsky’s claim that free will is an illusion and discuss what the science says about genes, stress, culture, and how all this research might reframe the way we think about meritocracy, blame, punishment, and even hatred.

This episode originally aired in November of 2023.

Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Robert Sapolsky, biologist and neuroscientist at Stanford University and author of Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will.

00:00 Intro
07:12 What is determinism?
24:47 Can you choose to change?
36:37 Are we just responding to stimuli?
46:22 Can we claim credit for our successes?

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