Determined: Life without Free Will with Robert Sapolsky

This information has caused my Procrastination to increase.

Just finished "Determined". Not only is it hugely illuminating, but it is beautifully written, and so a pleasure to read. Highly recommended, an essential book.

"An open mind is a prerequisite to an open heart." ~ Robert M. Sapolsky

I had no choice except to make this post.

"Dad, I earned an A on my spelling test!" Dr. Sapolsky: "whoa, slow down kiddo, lets unpack what really happened. Earned is a presumptive word..." Hahaha I love this man, and even though his viewpoints were hard for me to accept at first, they've helped me grow into a kinder and more thoughtful person!!

Agree with him or not, reading/listening to Sapolsky brings out the best in peoples' minds. I can't think of a better compliment.

I recently read Robert Saltzman's books. When he proposed there was no free will i threw the book down and thought 'This is absurd!" Then I thought about it awhile and this huge weight fell off me! I let go of ALL guilt and shame for my past actions and thoughts and I forgave ALL who I felt had wronged me! It is SO freeing!

You likely receive messages like this often, and it’s possible you won’t see this one, but I wanted to share something with you. You’ve been a tremendous source of inspiration for me to delve into the intricacies of the human brain and behavior. Thanks to your influence, I earned my bachelor’s degree and am now diligently pursuing my PhD in clinical psychology.

This idea is, indeed, so liberating. I felt some physical lightness when I accepted it, thought it through. I realize that it may be a “bummer” for a lot of humans out there, and they sure have their reasons. But for me personally this idea IS helpful, and uplifting. Despite I went through depression, it doesn’t make me sad, rather the opposite. Just calm, even a bit happier. Thank you, Prof. Sapolsky

On a practical level, I think all of this boils down to compassion and empathy. It is incumbent on us who know free will to be illusory to treat those in less fortunate positions with compassion and do what we can to help them overcome the conditions they were born into. We should also exercise humility when we experience our own success.

You and your wisdom has mentored me through many years. Thank you so much.

How lucky the students of Stanford are! I'd be thrilled to have learned from him at Uni. The book is brilliant.

Thank you, Prof. Sapolsky, for sharing with me a coriscating constellation of inputs that has significantly heightened my consciousness and provided me with a goodly measure of stimuli that have aided in expanding my capacity to deepen the depth of my compassion for both myself and for other human beings, for other animals. Blessings. Peace, Love, Granola. 🕊 ☮️

I enjoyed your book tremendously Mr. Sapolsky. The shift in understanding our nature could make for a more just and corrective society. Thank you.

49:20 - Living through this right now! - "Major Depression" = Inability to BS myself into thinking that "Life is Wonderful"

Hello Stanford Alumni! I schooled at Stanford also. Regarding free will: In the global frame, entropy overall has a one way arrow and space will continue to expand and accelerate in expansion. This is predetermined and we cannot escape this destiny. In a local frame, we have free will, within the predeterminations already set by the universe expanding. (Some) matter has a property of awareness and thinking that is an action, albeit a small action. These actions can be amplified in a sort of biological circuit either intentionally or unintentionally, to become larger macro actions. These can propagate and amplify so large as to shape a planet surface, reach other orbital bodies, even build a craft to exit Sol and his heliosphere! But that spacecraft, as well as the seed thought, will inevitably eventually become redshifted into the lowest quanta of energy alone in the cosmos, perhaps as a photon sphere, an island onto itself. Perhaps.erging into a superfluid BEC-like state where we have no more measure (no differential). But it is the nature of nature that we will follow some course like this... 🙏😎

love Prof. Sapolsky. his lectures on YT are so fascinating. so 22:41 - i was looking at all the photos and my immediate reactions surprised me. Ellen made me mad cause of her Covid reaction to being trapped in her huge house. the Vanity Fair photo i had a low opinion of. i don’t like basketball, but that photo was incredible - the grace, the athleticism. and just beauty of that photo got to me - didn’t matter that it was basketball. the guy in the lower left was just boring - go away. the only other one i remember is Martin Luther King - that picture made me feel calm, someone good is in control, and also very sad. it was the best picture there. made me feel good about my gut reactions. so interesting. 🌷

Every word Sapolsky says is spoken with intent and therefore matters tremendously. What a gift! Thank you.

Determinism became obvious to me when I was 14 too. Everything Sapolsky says is so obvious and redundent to me. An easy test to reveal the pervasive nature of determinism in anyone's life is for a week write down every instance of free will you experience. Then watch this video again and see if that behavior stands the test of free will - Was there nothing that influenced or came before it? This goes all the way down to the flavor of ice cream or the flowers I choose. I see what preceeded everything on a day to day basis. And I feel liberated by determinism and am able to improve my life based on the learnings of determinism. Don't put yourself down. Take advantage of your strengths. Look at yourself without self-deception. Life keeps getting better.

Thanks a lot for such a rich video and all the information we got from Professor Sapolsky