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Stanford neurobiologist says there is no such thing as 'free will'
American Thinker ^ | 10/21/2023 | Eric Utter

Posted on 10/21/2023 8:22:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

After more than 40 years of studying humans and other primates, Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky has reached the conclusion that virtually all human behavior is as far beyond our conscious control as the division of cells or the beating of our hearts. (Of course, he had to.)

Therefore, we mustn’t harshly judge such heretofore disdained folks as drunk drivers, serial criminals, Hamas terrorists, and those who bring 29 items to the “8 items or less” checkout lane.

Sapolsky said:

“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. We’ve got no free will. Stop attributing stuff to us that isn’t there.”

Yes, this screwed up world would be a much, much better place if we stopped rewarding and punishing people based on their behavior. Incredibly, Sapolsky is a MacArthur “genius” grant winner, proving that the people who bestow that award are utterly clueless. (Through no fault of their own, of course!) if (publir_show_ads) { document.write("" + ""); }

Indeed, the vast majority of neuroscientists and philosophers believe humans have at least some degree of free will. As do most of the rest of us. But perhaps we have no choice in the matter.

Sapolsky has a new book out, titled, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. (I bet he just had to write it!) Doesn’t sound much like “science” to me. But maybe we should ask Dr. Fauci.

The book chronicles neurochemical influences that contribute to human behaviors, and analyzes time, short or long, before we do what we do. Sapolsky had previously written a bestseller called, “Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst,” which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and received other accolades.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: churchofwoke; freewill; materialism; neurobiology; nonsense; pseudoscience; robertsapolsky; selfcontradiction; stanford; stanfordhalfwit; thenwhybelievehim; washeforcedtosaythat
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To: SeekAndFind

So he is a Calvinist?


21 posted on 10/21/2023 8:47:40 AM PDT by Raycpa
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To: SeekAndFind

Common sense compelled me to it and i made the choice to post- i could just as easily have made the choice not to post


22 posted on 10/21/2023 8:47:43 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: SeekAndFind
this crap will be used to excuse and exhonerate all black criminals whether it be rape, assault, murder, carjacking....

"they can't help themselves".....

23 posted on 10/21/2023 8:50:25 AM PDT by cherry
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To: SeekAndFind

Why call it ‘free will’?

Call it, ‘understanding the difference between right or wrong’. When it comes to right or wrong, most people know the difference. Most people will choose to do right and to elect to do the right thing when other choices do not agree with their consciences. Those that do not will either get punishment or will be shunned.

Simple enough.


24 posted on 10/21/2023 8:52:28 AM PDT by adorno
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To: SeekAndFind

I tend to agree.

The human body and brain (which we were born with and had no choice in the matter) is a system that responds to stimuli. We are very similar in many respect so we tend to have similar responses and make similar choices. But we are also different and unique in other respects and as a result may at times end up making different decisions. Our choices are driven by our pursuit of of what we THINK will make us happy.

I think free will is an illusion.

But if that is so, then why do we feel we can hold people “responsible” for their choices and actions, if they had no control over their choices. And how do we then justify “punishing” someone for a “crime”?


25 posted on 10/21/2023 8:57:16 AM PDT by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how they control you. )
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To: aquila48

“how do we then justify “punishing” someone for a “crime”?”

That one is easy.

All of us benefit if criminals are kept away from the rest of civilization—i.e., behind bars.

It does not matter “why” they do it—they should not be allowed to run loose causing havoc in civilized societies.


26 posted on 10/21/2023 8:59:54 AM PDT by cgbg ("Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." Anna Freud.)
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To: aquila48

To add to my post—the reason why lions and tigers are kept in zoos instead of allowed to run loose down the street is not because they choose to be “bad” animals—it is because they do harmful things when they are loose.

We are not trying to rehabilitate them—we are just trying to protect human society.

:-)


27 posted on 10/21/2023 9:04:10 AM PDT by cgbg ("Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." Anna Freud.)
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To: SeekAndFind
So...

Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, of his own free will, wrote a book denying humans have free will, and is now pimping that book for sales.

It's not that people don't have free will, it's that many are conditioned, especially from birth, to think without it. That conditioned thought is then reinforced constantly throughout their lives lest they break free.

28 posted on 10/21/2023 9:06:03 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: SeekAndFind

“Neurobiologists investigate the structure, function, development, and pathology of the nervous system at different levels, ranging from molecules and cells to entire neural circuits and systems.”

I would consider this guy the same as a carpenter because he studies the physical parts of the house and how they work. But I won’t ask him what the brain says to them.

wy69


29 posted on 10/21/2023 9:11:02 AM PDT by whitney69
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To: SeekAndFind

A new spin on an old theory. People are the product of their heredity and experience.

Of course there’s something to it but go... Uh, go rob a few banks and see how it works out for you.

Society has got to protect itself. People too.


30 posted on 10/21/2023 9:12:03 AM PDT by OKSooner (Be especially sure to take extra wool socks.)
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To: tired&retired

Your first question has nothing to do with free will. We humans take the simplest thing and try to sound so philosophical and smart. Free will is having the ability to make a choice. Nothing more nothing less.
Placebos work because the subjects choose to take them and they believe they are taking something that works. The result is not because of free will, it is a result of free will (choosing to take the placebo). You’re talking about the after effects of free will.


31 posted on 10/21/2023 9:14:49 AM PDT by GMThrust
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To: SeekAndFind
The alleged professor from Stanford Junior University writes...

“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. We’ve got no free will. Stop attributing stuff to us that isn’t there.”

Nonsense, of course, but one suspects that he's trying to convince people that our rights to Free markets, Free enterprise, Freedom of speech, and other rights we enjoy aren't bad and unneeded things, and that punishing criminals is unnecessary.

32 posted on 10/21/2023 9:15:50 AM PDT by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never...in nothing, great or small...Winston ChurchIill)
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To: aspasia

Free will or not, B.F. Skinner showed us that negative reinforcement produced the strongest learning response, behavior will be adjusted accordingly.


33 posted on 10/21/2023 9:23:29 AM PDT by dmcnash (Back off! I'm a Scientist.)
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To: aquila48
I tend to agree.

We do respond to stimuli. The problem is an all-or-nothing kind of thinking, accepting the illusion that we are only the product of our environment.

34 posted on 10/21/2023 9:25:55 AM PDT by aspasia
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To: dmcnash

With the advance in cognitive psychology we are far beyond Skinner now.


35 posted on 10/21/2023 9:29:43 AM PDT by aspasia
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To: dmcnash
Seligman:
It is more than happenstance that the two countries in which behaviorism flourished—the United States and the Soviet Union—are at least in theory the cradles of egalitarianism. “All men are created equal” and “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” were the ideological underpinnings of behaviorism as well as of the Amer¬ ican and Soviet political systems respectively.

That is where things stood in 1965 when we prepared our counterattack against the behaviorists. We thought the behaviorist notion that it all comes down to rewards and punishments that strengthen associations was utter nonsense.


36 posted on 10/21/2023 9:34:59 AM PDT by aspasia
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To: dmcnash

Heart disease. My doctor said blame your parents. There’s nothing you can do. The diet/exercise and prescriptions help but it really doesn’t matter.

Makes sense there so why not here? Adoption outside the gene pool will spoil the good genes in the siblings. Hillary’s solution was the village.

The doctor has a point. That’s what prisons are for. That and ICU units.


37 posted on 10/21/2023 9:35:44 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (e allowed )
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To: SeekAndFind

“...did you say that out of your own ‘free will’? Or did the chemicals in your brain impel you to say it? LMAO !!”

Exactly! If everything we do or say is determined by chemical reactions in our brains, then there can be no truth, only our reaction to external stimuli. That goes for this guy’s thoughts as well. The people who make these kinds of arguments always defeat themselves. And they do it periodically in every generation. CS Lewis wrote extensively on this subject 70 years ago, as I recall.


38 posted on 10/21/2023 9:37:37 AM PDT by mkmensinger
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To: SeekAndFind

: virtually.

As they say, the devil is in the details.


39 posted on 10/21/2023 9:39:41 AM PDT by cuban leaf (It is easier to fool a man than to convince him he's being fooled. - Mark Twain)
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To: Raycpa
The Calvinist position on free will is a bit more complicated. When humans do the will of God it is a sign they may be among the Elect and headed for Heaven. However, when they act according to their own debased free will then they are headed for Hell.

It's basically a get out of jail free card for God: Yes we have free will so if we end up in Hell it's our fault and not God's, even though He decided before the beginning of time who the Elect would be and who wouldn't.

40 posted on 10/21/2023 9:40:58 AM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (What is left around which to circle the wagons?)
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