Straight Line of the Day: If We Have No Free Will, …

Stanford Scientist, After Decades of Study, Concludes: We Don’t Have Free Will
MSN | 10/17/2023 | Corinne Purtill

… After more than 40 years studying humans and other primates, [Stanford University neurobiologist Robert] Sapolsky has reached the conclusion that all human behavior is as far beyond our conscious control as the convulsions of a seizure, the division of cells or the beating of our hearts.

This means accepting that a man who shoots into a crowd has no more control over his fate than the victims who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It means treating drunk drivers who barrel into pedestrians just like drivers who suffer a sudden heart attack and veer out of their lane.

“The world is really screwed up and made much, much more unfair by the fact that we reward people and punish people for things they have no control over,” Sapolsky said. “We’ve got no free will. Stop attributing stuff to us that isn’t there.”

Sapolsky, a MacArthur “genius” grant winner, is aware that this is an out-there position. Most neuroscientists believe humans have at least some degree of free will. So do most philosophers and the general population. Free will is essential to how we see ourselves, fueling the satisfaction of achievement or the shame of failing to do the right thing.

13 Comments

  1. If there’s no such thing as free will, how did he decide there’s no such thing as free will? How was he made to do that study? To reach that conclusion? Did he choose it, or did someone choose it for him? Where did they get that idea?

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