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Does free will exist? In this debate, neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky examines the timeless philosophical question of free will and fate through a scientific lens. He takes a determinist perspective, arguing that because every decision is triggered by environmental stimuli and biological processes, it is impossible to “shoehorn” in the... show more

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19,451 views • 29 days ago •via X (Twitter)

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22 Comments

Kirill Magidson29 days ago

The argument is: 1. Assume determinism is true. 2. Freedom contradicts determinism. 3. Therefore freedom doesn’t exist. Powerful logic. Why should we assume 1?

Roger Allen29 days ago

If everything just happens because of what happens before, how can anyone "reject [or accept] the notion of free will?"

Crispin Sartwell29 days ago

i agree with this!

Ouroboros29 days ago

Freewill is just the illusion of having so many choices you think you have a say in it.

binary_achemist29 days ago

take for instance an apple on a tree a bird knocks it down it rots and the seeds fall in to the dirt become tree or another instance of this apple it falls hits the dirts rots in to minerals and becomes a rock or that same apple is picked sliced soften and made in to a pie

Roy Dopson29 days ago

Please take this seriously! 🙏 Here is proof, taken from actual subjective experience, that the entire concept of "free will" is an error based upon an incorrect identification of Self This is a reasonable and sound inquiry. Why won't you respond to me?

Paul Austin Murphy28 days ago

"Sapolsky takes a determinist perspective, arguing that because every decision is triggered by environmental stimuli & biological processes, it is impossible to “shoehorn” in the notion of freedom." Does Sapolsky apply that to Trump, Hitler, etc? It seems that he doesn't.

𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒍 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒘𝒔 🇦🇺29 days ago

The question doesn't actually matter, if one's delusions are functional. Turning yourself into a depressive realist and suffering the subsequent paralysis that it brings is not functional and you'd be better off being delusional.

ARGO28 days ago

If they have no choice to accept or deny then saying it would be a better place is irrelevant and no o e will ever be responsible for any outcomes either way. Why consider options at all if they are preselected?

Patrick David Aoun29 days ago

Under naive physical realism, he may be right.

Pankaj Taneja, PHnotD28 days ago

Free will has to exist for science to mean anything at all

Zero One29 days ago

Social / Genetic / Natural lotteries; "lotteries", not choices. Obviously, connoting luck/chance is superdeterministic - considering *everything* is governed by chance.

Annemiek Bosch29 days ago

The way I see it there is a difference between unconscious and conscious behavior. I think the outcome of a conscious decision is still determined in the way Robert Sapolsky describes it. But it can be another choice, with its own consequences, than we would have made without being conscious of the options we had or without understanding why we had a tendency to do the wrong thing. So even if free will is a subjective experience it really exists as something important in my view. In the same way you and I exist. Life is all about meaning. If on the other hand you would state that free will does not exist because it's a subjective experience, I think it would be consistent to say that a lot of things don't exist, if any at all.

el tico28 days ago

How can we take anybody accountable for their actions without presupposing free will?

Mart Wijn29 days ago

Yes, free will exists. But only without conditioning.

The Left is not Right29 days ago

Once I was married, with children and a mortgage, the sense of freedom of will became a theoretical concept.

Mikhail Rogov 🇷🇺29 days ago

To deny freewill is to deny Transcendence in which freedom is rooted. Those who deny it are Satan's agents and useful idiots.

Chengguang Li29 days ago

How about environmental stimuli and biological processes are parts of consciousness?

HoveringBrick 29 days ago

Starting with chemical reactions themselves, there is a LOT of random in those allegedly "deterministic" relationships of biological causes and effects. And the magnitude of every effect follows a distribution of probability. I.o.w.: There ARE "butterfly-effects". Room for will.

Erik Jan Bosch29 days ago

I flulky agree with Sapolsky!

ZⒶRK29 days ago

"because every decision is triggered by environmental stimuli and biological processes" Is this a reason for believing determinism, or is it just the thesis of determinism?

Matt Lieberman29 days ago

There may or may not be free will, but Sapolsky’s logic is so painfully flawed.

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