Your mother’s socio-economic status at the time of your birth. Whether
your ancestors raised crops or led camels through the desert. The smell
of the room you're in when you're making a decision—all of these things,
says neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky, combine to affect your behavior, as
well as everything in between. And if you’re wondering where free will
fits in, Sapolsky says, it doesn't: If we’re all the sum of our biology
and environments over which we had no control, it makes no sense to hold
us accountable for anything that we do. In a conversation that’s equal
parts fascinating and frightening, Sapolsky and EconTalk’s Russ Roberts
discuss the science and philosophy behind determinism. They explore what
this argument, taken to its logical conclusion, means for our social and
legal systems, and the challenge of how to live if free will is an
illusion.
Links, transcript, and more information: https://www.econtalk.org/robert-sapolsky-on-determinism-free-will-and-responsibility/
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