Determined

Determined (Robert Sapolsky)

  • Interesting, fast read. I think its obviously right that we do not have free will, but the arguments of the book are so compelling. My take is that the idea of free will is like the Copenhagen interpretation. Practically very useful, but not obviously ill-defined
  • The point of this book: While it may seem ridiculous and non-sensical to explain something by resorting to an infinity of turtles all the way down, it actually is much more ridiculous and nonsensical to believe that somewhere down there, there's a turtle floating in the air. The science of human behaviors shows that turtles cant float.
  • The approach of this book is to show how that determinism works, to explore how the biology over which you had no control, interacting with environment over which you had no control, made you you.
  • While it sure may seems that we are free to do as we intend, we are never free to intend what we intend.
  • The prefrontal cortex is the last part of the brain to develop, it is the brain region least shaped by genes and most shaped by environment.
  • Genes decide nothing. Saying that a gene decides when to generate a protein is like saying that the recipe decides when to bake the cake that it codes for.
  • Determinism and predictability are very different things. Determinism allows you to explain why something happened, predictability allows you to say what happens next.
  • When we argue about whether our behavior is the product of our agency,we are not interested in random behavior. We're interesting in the consistency of behaviors that constitutes our moral character. In the consistent ways in which we try to reconcile our multifaceted inconsistencies.
  • It was not until humans started living in larger communities that religions with moralizing gods started to pop up. As humans transitions to societies with frequent encounters with strangers, we generated the need to invent all-seeing eyes in the sky.
  • There are 52 countries where atheism is punishable by prison or death.

  • This book has a goal – to get people to think differently about moral responsibility, blame and praise, and the notion of our being free agents. To change the fundamental aspects of how we behave.

    We dont change our minds. Our minds are changed by the circumstances around us.

  • When our behavior changes, it doesn't involve biology with some themes and motifs similar to ones seen in simpler organisms. It involves the SAME molecules, genes, and mechanisms of neuronal function!
  • Most people in the Western world have subtracted free will, responsibility, and blame out of their thinking about epilepsy. This is a stunning accomplishment, a triumph of civilization and modernity.
  • The retributive justice system is built on backward-looking proportionality, where the more damage is caused, the more severe the punishment. A quarantine model of criminality shows forward-looking proportionality, where the more danger is posed in the future, the more constraints are needed.
  • "Toughen up, there's no free will" isn't remotely the point.
  • There is no justifiable "deserve", this is where the science has taken us.
  • We need to accept the absurdity of hating any person for anything they've done; ultimately that hatred is sadder than hating the sky for storming. This is where the science has brought us as well.

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