“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.”
This genius is a moron. Well, he’s half right, there is no free will, and therefore no “responsibility” in the true sense of the word.
Where he’s absolutely wrong is that people’s behavior can’t be changed.
You may not have free will but you react to stimuli and the expectation of stimuli, in a particular way, and you “learn” from that experience.
The choices you make depend heavily on your perception of the consequences of those choices, and you adjust your behavior based on whether those consequences make you happier or sadder - the old “pursuit of happiness” - the driving force behind all human behavior.
Nature imposes consequences and you learn from them. You touch a hot stove, you just learned not to touch a hot stove, and odds are very high you won’t do it again.
Humans (society) can also impose consequences that can cause you to change your behavior. In order to promote a semblance of peaceful coexistence, societies impose certain good or bad consequences (rewards/punishments) on choices you make depending on whether those choices advance or decrease peaceful coexistence. You steal something, you lose your freedom for a period of time. Most people see that as a sufficiently negative consequence so that they don’t steal.
Some don’t and continue stealing, so society imposes harsher consequences. And if the person still doesn’t alter his behavior society will remove him from circulation by keeping him jailed.
So this guy is completely wrong in saying that rewards and punishments are somehow “unfair”. He doesn’t understand the role of rewards and punishment - it’s about controlling behavior, not punishment per se. Regardless of whether people are “responsible”, in the real sense of the word, for their behavior, behavior can be changed by applying certain consequences of those behaviors. And therefore society imposes consequences (rewards/punishments, ie, laws) to advance “domestic tranquility”. And that’s absolutely necessary or you’d have constant chaos and strife.
You are a product of your environment and therefore you can be conditioned for good behavior. But since you are a product of your environment, you can’t be at fault for bad behavior.
We, the people, are so screwed.