The biology of our best and worst selves | Robert Sapolsky

How can humans be so compassionate and altruistic -- and also so brutal and violent? To understand why we do what we do, neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky looks at extreme context, examining actions on timescales from seconds to millions of years before they occurred. In this fascinating talk, he shares his cutting edge research into the biology that drives our worst and best behaviors.

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[MrYang]

This is the man that got me interested in neuroscience and biology in general. I can't get enough of his lectures.

[MindfieIds]

Main lesson is "be really careful, really cautious before you think you know what causes a behavior, specially if it's a behavior you are judging harshly ... Every bit of behavior can change with circumstances ..."

[magedabuldahab]

In just 15 minutes he gave us his wisdom in a silver plater, +30 years of field research in kenya, summarized his Stanford's biology lectures, best ever TED lecture and lecturer offcoarse

[donkeydonkey]

this guy has great bio lectures on stanfords youtube page

[flubdgub]

A bonafide genius. His ability to effortlessly describe very complex things in simple clear language is the hallmark of a master

[lyleyla]

Found this guy on accident...a biology prof at Stanford, I happened upon one of his lectures. I cannot get enough of him. He is an extraordinarily fascinating human being who every one of us can learn a great deal from!

[KarlSnarks]

9:34 funnily enough it's also more complicated for baboons. While they're generally a very aggressive species with a very stratified group hierarchy, there's one instance where this changed. There was a group that lived near a dumpsite where they took food from, and as usual the dominant males ate first. However, some of the food was poisonous, and those dominant males died, leaving the more submissive males and females. The females did not feel the danger of violent reprisal anymore, and started mating the surviving males, who had a much more peaceful and mild disposition. Because of their genes and the way they raised their new young the group stayed peaceful and altruistic.

So even a little shuffling of the genepool, and a nicer environment, completely changed the predisposition of these baboons.

[GenJotsu]

Hugh Thompson - A man willing to mow down his own allies to protect his enemies from rape and slaughter. I'm honored to have even known such an amazing person. Thank you.

[Darkphantaria]

I love this guy, how can we keep him alive forever?

[crucio]

This also serves to highlight how important it is for us to treat 'now' as carefully as possible because it then would in some way impact our actions in the future.

[IlaughedIcried]

I have an educational crush on Robert Sapolsky like NO OTHER. I've listened to every lecture of his I can find, and I would listen to anything else he lectured about -- balsa wood, rubbing alcohol, the history of tapioca pudding. I don't even understand how one person can be so smart, eloquent, funny and accessible all at once.

[psychologyis]

By far the most sophisticated Ted talk I've seen. There's a lot of footage of Sapolsky lecturing on YouTube for those who want more.

[bridgerarnold]

This wasn't long enough. I need a 40 minute version.

[Hannah-ombk]

Robert Sapolsky is ever inspiring and incredible. Everything he studies is very much suggestive of the poignant truth that humans are deeply flawed, and still quite beautiful regardless. I would love to meet him.

[reid_blackmon]

Thank God this guy doesn't want to torture me

[GenJotsu]

Beautiful. It takes the strongest person to admit that they were wrong.

[TinaSotis]

God, I love listening to this generous, compassionate, and articulate genius

[AkiraSumida]

"What we're left with here is this inevitable cliche: 'Those who don't study history are destined to repeat it'.
What we have here is the opposite: Those who don't study the history of extraordinary human change; those who don't study the biology of what can transform us from our worst to our best behaviors; those who don't do this are destined not to be able to repeat these incandescent, magnificent moments."

[alexparamount]

Robert Sapolsky is like a neuroscience/behaviour rock star!

[TheTennAce]

I highly recommend his book "Behave", the scope and scholarly quality is on another level