Psychology
by Robert Sapolsky
Did you choose to read this?
Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford neuroscientist, thinks not, in any meaningful sense. Determined argues there is no free will at all. Everything you do comes from a brain shaped by genes and circumstances you never chose. Most philosophers disagree with him, and he knows it.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
Take any action and Sapolsky asks what caused it. A second before, neurons fired. Hours before, hormones and hunger shifted. Years before, childhood shaped the brain, and before birth, genes and the womb did. Nowhere along the chain, he argues, does a free 'you' step in.
Surely trying hard is up to you? Sapolsky says no. Self-control depends heavily on the frontal cortex, the last part of the brain to mature, and it's shaped by things like childhood stress and poverty. So even willpower, in his view, is something you were handed.
Some argue that chaos theory or quantum randomness leaves room for choice. Sapolsky spends several chapters rejecting this. Something being unpredictable doesn't make it free, and random events in your neurons would make you erratic rather than in charge.
Sapolsky doesn't want dangerous people left free to do harm. He borrows the idea of quarantine. We isolate someone with a contagious disease without thinking they deserve it. He'd restrain violent people in the same spirit, to protect others, with no aim of making them suffer.
No free will
Every choice you make grows out of your genes, your brain and your past, none of which you chose.
Looking back
To explain any action, look back from the second before it to long before you were born.
Willpower
Even your willpower and grit were shaped by things outside your control.
Chaos
Unpredictable is different from free. Chaos and quantum physics don't give us free will.
Blame
We once blamed epilepsy on witchcraft. Sapolsky thinks blaming people for bad behaviour will look just as wrong.
A story from the book
Sapolsky points to epilepsy. For centuries, seizures were blamed on demons or witchcraft, and some sufferers were punished for them. Once science explained seizures, society stopped blaming the people who had them, and didn't fall apart. He thinks the same shift can happen for all behaviour.
Hot take · true or myth?
Random events in the brain, at the quantum level, could give us free will.
Myth. Sapolsky argues that randomness can't be free will. If your actions came from random events in your neurons, you'd be erratic, and you still wouldn't be the one choosing.
One thing to try
Pick someone whose behaviour annoys you this week. Jot down a few things that shaped them that they never chose, like their family or where they grew up. Sapolsky argues that the more you know about where behaviour comes from, the harder it is to hate anyone for it.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. Determined comes with a Hot Take round to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appDid you choose to read this? Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford neuroscientist, thinks not, in any meaningful sense. Determined argues there is no free will at all. Everything you do comes from a brain shaped by genes and circumstances you never chose. Most philosophers disagree with him, and he knows it.
Keep asking what came before; Grit is luck too; Chaos and quantum won't save it; Safety without blame.
Pick someone whose behaviour annoys you this week. Jot down a few things that shaped them that they never chose, like their family or where they grew up. Sapolsky argues that the more you know about where behaviour comes from, the harder it is to hate anyone for it.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from Determined in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Hot Take round to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
