Neurobiologist Talks About FREE WILL | Dr. Robert Sapolsky | #shorts

Robert Morris Sapolsky is an American neuroendocrinology researcher and author. He is a professor of biology, and professor of neurology and neurological sciences and, by courtesy, neurosurgery, at Stanford University. In addition, he is a research associate at the National Museums of Kenya.

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[Schizo_Ostrich]

I completely agree that every single decision you make no matter how conscientious it feels or seems is heavy influnced by every aspect of your environment and past, but its still very difficult to conclude that those exclusively decide your decision.

[whatfffd]

Its pecieved free will, nothing more. Totally agree

[ExistenceUniversity]

And... having multiple factors to consider why using your free will doesn't mean you don't have them. One can be in a fight with their boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever and stop and think and even say out loud, "you know what? My hormones are raging, my upbringing was not great, my former training in primary school did not prepare me for this, the room is too bright and too hot, I don't think I am thinking straight, can we discuss this tomorrow?"

Free will doesn't go away because you exist in reality.

Essentially he is arguing that free will could only exist if you could exist without reality interacting with you. But WHY would an animal need free will when it doesn't need to make choices in reality?

[shawnrowe]

Cause and effect .. just as dominoes fall. Our life is a continuous process that is a result of a previous event. It’s a deep thought but Elon Musk once said something similar “My brain tells me, that we don’t have free will but my heart says a different story.”

[philly]

1. "We can’t, and don’t, avoid stress. Stress happens to everyone. But we can avoid letting it wear us down by managing it well." — Dr. Robert Sapolsky

2. "The scariest thing about human behavior is that we are capable of anything." — Dr. Robert Sapolsky

3. "The less control you have, the more aggressive you become." — Dr. Robert Sapolsky

4. "The history of humans is the history of biological creatures who increasingly use culture to sculpt biology, as opposed to the other way around." — Dr. Robert Sapolsky

5. "You don’t have free will. The critical part of this, though, is you’re never going to stop feeling like you have it." — Dr. Robert Sapolsky

[sigurdvj]

I now realise I’ve never really grasped the concept of free will. The question to explore with is great: ‘where did that intention come from’?

[Cinnovations]

It’s not anyone’s burden to prove it’s not real because the notion of free will itself was conjured up by someone without any reasoning to back it up in the first place.

[TvTv-yutv]

Read Intelligence of matter, published in 1981. This book can better explain why there is no free will

[ahmedsudaisbatuaan]

The only true sheer free will we have is how we respond to our environment.

[yeh]

Its like the Merovingian from Matrix 2 explained it. We are all victims of causality - cause and effect.

[manojlogulic]

Agree, how can we have free will when life is reaction, we are reacting each second to so many things and when we sleep we consoled memory from the past day. We don't have free will at all in real world, what we have is free way of imagination but not completely free since what you will contemplate on is again based on your unconscious emotion in that moment and emotions are not in our free will :)

[ソトヤママリアテレサ]

and yet Robert M. Sapolsky is one of the most moral and kind atheists on the planet. He's got a good head on his shoulders. He even won the 1989 genius grant. -j from my wife's YouTube with her permission of course. ☮️🎶

[markedwardsuk]

Two forms of descriptive determinism exist: causal determinism (This moment leads to the next, a casual chain of events) and soft determinism (The story is already written, a more holistic view), they are both very different ways to look at free will and determinism. I would prescribe to causal determinism, every frame of time, from one moment to the next, must adhere to the laws of physics, regardless of the object's composition. The Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is the only scientific theory that accommodates free will, but if the Bohmian mechanics or many-worlds theory proves correct, then determinism prevails. From a human perspective, the vast number of actions that occur within our experience precludes definitive knowledge, rendering the distinction between free will and determinism irrelevant.

[nanomachines]

Strong argument, but i am not convinced of the "any at all" part. What you have described is predisposition and proclivity, not an unwilling, unconscious forcing of action. These things in our environment influence but do not force outcome. People's decision-making paradigms change all the time in spite of genetic and environmental factors.

Maybe there's more to his point, but this short clip did not convince me that we have ZERO free will. We still have at least 1% of free will or more, even if it's not 100%

[bocciaalex]

One of my favorite pastimes is to sit back and watch the dominos fall

[Matt-ktnm]

The examples he gives can influence your behavior, but they don't dictate your decisions.
I wonder how he defines free will. I don't think free will applies to decisions outside of a shared morality and social norms. Normal choices don't really matter.

[kyledevane]

We do change the program, consciously.

[HouseParty]

Determinism is an authoitative position backed by feelings. It stands on a foundation of moral relativism, and little else. To say determinism is a fact, is to say that you understand the mysteries of consciousness (the ultimate question).

[AleOnYouTube]

External factors create and enlarge some paths you may take, so it’s far easier to take those paths, yet you are still able to do whatever you want.

[AhmedSamir-ehye]

Ok I will now hold my nose with my right hand. Of course guys, the act of holding my nose with my right hand, every muscle that contracted to get me there, was destined to contract from the moment of the big bang. I had no choice! Let's try again and hold it with my left hand. Again, this absolutely meaningless hand movement was predetermined from the initial moment of the big bang, and I just had no say in the matter.
Science!