Pradeep reviewed Determined by Robert M. Sapolsky
We really don't have free will
5 stars
Free Will in the book is defined as the ability to do something that is disconnected from your history (both in terms of your personal history from childhood and genetic history).
If you did something good or deplorable, both happened because your experiences be it through trauma/education/books etc interacted with your biology. There is no free 'captain of your fate' entity sitting in your brain who could have done otherwise. This is not to say we cannot or do not make decisions, but rather that the decisions we make are based on intents/beliefs/ideas we had no room to freely will into happening.
Even if say, Person A told Person B about the lack of free will, and then immediately afterwards Person B decides to do a backflip to try to show that he/she has free will. Even that decision was influenced by Person B's tendency to rebel and dig their …
Free Will in the book is defined as the ability to do something that is disconnected from your history (both in terms of your personal history from childhood and genetic history).
If you did something good or deplorable, both happened because your experiences be it through trauma/education/books etc interacted with your biology. There is no free 'captain of your fate' entity sitting in your brain who could have done otherwise. This is not to say we cannot or do not make decisions, but rather that the decisions we make are based on intents/beliefs/ideas we had no room to freely will into happening.
Even if say, Person A told Person B about the lack of free will, and then immediately afterwards Person B decides to do a backflip to try to show that he/she has free will. Even that decision was influenced by Person B's tendency to rebel and dig their heels in when introduced to a new uncomfortable idea.
