Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will - Robert M. Sapolsky Audiobook
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One of our great behavioral scientists, the bestselling author of Behave, plumbs the depths of the science and philosophy of decision-making to mount a devastating case against free will, an argument with profound consequences.
Robert Sapolsky’s Behave, his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: we may not grasp the precise marriage of nature and nurture that creates the physics and chemistry at base of human behavior, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Now, in Determined, Sapolsky takes his argument all the way, mounting a brilliant (and in his inimitable way, delightful) full-frontal assault on the pleasant fantasy that there’s some separate self telling our biology what to do.
Determined offers a marvelous synthesis of what we know about how consciousness works–the tight weave between reason and emotion, and between stimulus and response, in the moment and over a life. One by one, Sapolsky tackles all the major arguments for free will and takes them out, cutting a path through the thickets of chaos and complexity science and quantum physics, as well as touching ground on some of the wilder shores of philosophy. He shows us that the history of medicine is in no small part the history of learning that fewer and fewer things are somebody’s “fault”; for example, for centuries we thought seizures were a sign of demonic possession. Yet as he acknowledges, it’s very hard, and at times impossible, to uncouple from our zeal to judge others, and to judge ourselves. Sapolsky applies the new understanding of life beyond free will to some of our most essential questions around punishment, morality, and living well together. By the end, Sapolsky argues that while living our daily lives recognizing that we have no free will is going to be monumentally difficult, doing so is not going to result in anarchy, pointlessness and existential malaise. Instead, it will make for a much more humane world.
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This post has 16 comments with rating of 3.8/5
October 24th, 2023
Thanks for this.
https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2023-10-17/stanford-scientist-robert-sapolskys-decades-of-study-led-him-to-conclude-we-dont-have-free-will-determined-book
October 24th, 2023
I’ve been pre-determined to not bother reading this book.
October 24th, 2023
And you’re entirely free to do that, dan.
October 25th, 2023
As a general rule, if an author has to tackle arguments one by one, rather than in their totality, it often means that the totality of the evidence doesn’t support the author’s conclusion.
As a former ne’er-do-well I can assure you that my ne’er-do-welling was a choice and one I decided to stop making, save for an audio book here and there, after I gained more information about the world as a whole and the direct harm I was causing to some people in it. While there are people who had no choice but to do those things to access food or defend themselves or to even be themselves, I wasn’t one of those people. And most successful baddies aren’t. They come from money. And they’re baddies because it works extremely well to be so, in both money and power.
But sure, feel sorry for us all day long, my vague bad characteristics and circumstances justify every terrible thing I’ve done and all those I might ever do. Evey person, few though they are, who has pledged to go straight and has isn’t exercising free will, it’s just the whim of fate.
But why stop at denying my personal responsibility? I’m so much a victim of circumstance that I’ll even setup a charity you can donate to if you feel guilty enough. My favorite lawyer, Dewey, is pretty expensive though, so I hope you feel very guilty indeed.
Dewey has two partners. Care to guess their names? Now, before you claim I’m committing charitable fraud, remember, I’m the victim here.
October 25th, 2023
That’s kind of like rational choice theory (relating to those pesky ne’er do well, path of least bother fellas - bad cess to them, as we see in these here parts).
We’re all deeply flawed types, endeavouring to persevere, as Chief Dan George sez in Josey Wales.
We can all freely choose to repose or withhold belief from determinism.
The problem with a reductive, definitive “it’s one way or the other” approach to this notoriously difficult issue is just that. There are too many factors, and the more thought that’s given to it leads one to compatibilism or soft libertarianism, rather than hard determinism (I know, these terms sound a bit dodgy).
This guy’s good though, I’ve seen his lectures. (He gives good beard.)
October 25th, 2023
Should’ve said “in” rather than “from” there. Even Caesar nods. A lot.)
October 25th, 2023
and as we “say” in these here parts. “I’m fallin’ apart here.”
October 25th, 2023
Look how enraged the bio-robots get at the mere mention they are not in control. The species will not survive this century. If humans had any control they would have made MASSIVE changes to the living arrangements, but instead they cheered the high priests of capitalism when they said we can have infinite economic growth on a finite planet. Peak oil? Oh we’ll find a substitute - SEE it’s right here in this 12 economic formula I made that no other Econpriest can reproduce, nor understand - just like the other social “sciences”. Keep the ones that support the dogma and chuck the rest. Dan Ariely is the latest charlatan who’s theories are not reproducible - he fudged data too. Fallen.
I appreciate the book, the extinction one as well. Anyone who has looked at the extinction record, mass & lesser knows the humans have set themselves up for a bad ending. It’s more than just runaway climate change which just by itself can rub us out.
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**Experts Say Humanity Faces a Grim and “Ghastly Future” – State of Planet Is Much Worse Than Most People Understand**
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“The state of the planet is much worse than most people understand and that humans face a grim and “ghastly future” unless extraordinary action is taken soon.
.
A loss of biodiversity and accelerating climate change in the coming decades coupled with ignorance and inaction is threatening the survival of all species, including our very own, according to the experts from institutions including Stanford University, UCLA, and Flinders University.”
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““Humanity is causing a rapid loss of biodiversity and, with it, Earth’s ability to support complex life. But the mainstream is having difficulty grasping the magnitude of this loss, despite the steady erosion of the fabric of human civilization” Professor Bradshaw says.
“In fact, the scale of the threats to the biosphere and all its lifeforms is so great that it is difficult to grasp for even well-informed experts.
“The problem is compounded by ignorance and short-term self-interest, with the pursuit of wealth and political interests stymying the action that is crucial for survival,” he says.”
‘
https://scitechdaily.com/experts-say-humanity-faces-a-grim-and-ghastly-future-state-of-planet-is-much-worse-than-most-people-understand/
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Once you let go the magical thinking the guilt goes away because we are right where we were heading all along and there is no one to blame because the clever and rapacious hairless ape can do no other. It’s like moralizing & berating beavers for destroying the environment of thousands of other creatures to improve his own survival and reproduction odds.
October 25th, 2023
…yeah, but you chose to copy/paste that. Mystic Meg.
October 25th, 2023
Free will is an illusion. There are many different medical and psychological experiments that all point towards that simple fact. Free will is illusion. We react to our environments, experiences, and memories in and our conscious mind comes up with an explanation why we reacted like we did. Its hard to accept, naturally, since an important function of the nervous system is to create the illusion of ’self.’ Its okay, though… nothing to be afraid of. It just is what it is and it doesnt require a major paradigm shift in ethics and moral culpability. People always have been held accountable for their actions and always will be.
October 25th, 2023
The most famous study (the Libet experiment) to refute free agency was afterwards demonstrated to fail. We have to be careful with parameters & definitions around this complex subject. We can’t be reductive or simplistic. We also can’t make silly definitive determinations, which seem superficially edgy & “cool” (the First Year Philosophy student problem!).
Of course environmental factors & conditions are of fundamental importance. However, facile extrapolations still do not follow from that contextual frame.
The conscious will still retains a right to veto any course at the last instant. Unconscious impulses to execute a volitional act are open to suppression by the conscious efforts of the subject.
It’s always a fascinating domain of study. Consciousness remains an enormous mystery, of course
October 28th, 2023
Thank you for I freely will download this. But i start to wonder, would i have willed freely to download this it it wasn’t available here. Or would i have even been aware that i have the free will to download this if the author wasn’t on a publicity spree and caught my attention in new scientist and a recent jordan peterson clip i seen in my youtybe subscribed feeds?. Id like to think that i had the freedom yo choose to download this of my own will with no external influence out to control my will to action.
October 28th, 2023
Your agency is free, but within defined parameters; so you’re a delightfully free bokeh, necessarily conditionally curtailed (rather than a robotic meat puppet, hurtling pointlessly into the voided void). It gives you room to breathe.
November 8th, 2023
can tell none of you read the book because he addresses the points mentioned in the comments here, including the Libet experiment.
Stop reading bad comments, read the book and make up your mind.
4 out of 5 stars because the first 3 chapters felt like a recap of his previous book Behave. This one is better and focuses more on Chaos theory instead of neuroscience.
December 28th, 2023
Sapolsky is an amusing neuroscientist and ethologist, but nobody who’s done even an introductory class in philosophy can entertain any of his premises here. The arguments are so thoroughly question begging, the definitions so naive, the scholarship so sparse, that this book is really just an insult to intelligence. Authors who leverage their credentials as scientists in order to make pronouncements in philosophy invariably end up being the most contemptible sophists.
December 20th, 2025
Timestamps
Chapter 1: Turtles All the Way Down (0:00:27)
Chapter 2: The Final Three Minutes of a Movie (0:43:49)
Chapter 3: Where Does Intent Come From? [Part 1] (1:50:04)
Chapter 3: Where Does Intent Come From? [Part 2] (2:49:49)
Chapter 4: Willing Willpower: The Myth of Grit [Part 1] (3:34:31)
Chapter 4: Willing Willpower: The Myth of Grit [Part 2] (4:26:22)
Chapter 5: A Primer on Chaos (5:19:04)
Chapter 6: Is Your Free Will Chaotic? (5:55:54)
Chapter 7: A Primer on Emergent Complexity [Part 1] (6:21:54)
Chapter 7: A Primer on Emergent Complexity [Part 2] (6:58:49)
Chapter 8: Does Your Free Will Just Emerge? (7:44:01)
Chapter 9: A Primer on Quantum Indeterminacy (8:07:37)
Chapter 10: Is Your Free Will Random? (8:35:59)
Chapter 10.5: Interlude (9:47:31)
Chapter 11: Will We Run Amok? (10:00:04)
Chapter 12: The Ancient Gears within Us: How Does Change Happen? (10:58:56)
Chapter 13: We Really Have Done This Before [Part 1] (12:02:39)
Chapter 13: We Really Have Done This Before [Part 2] (13:04:16)
Chapter 14: The Joy of Punishment p1 (13:54:42)
Chapter 14: The Joy of Punishment p2 (15:00:31)
Chapter 15: If You Die Poor (15:47:41)
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