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Sam Harris speaks with Robert Sapolsky about the widespread belief in free will. They discuss the limits of intuition, the views of Dan Dennett, complexity and emergence, downward causation, abstraction, epigenetics, predictability, fatalism, Benjamin Libet, the primacy of luck, historical change in attitudes about free will, implications for ethics and criminal justice, the psychological satisfaction of punishing bad people, understanding evil, punishment and reward as tools, meritocracy, the consequences of physical beauty, the logic of reasoning, and other topics.
Robert M. Sapolsky is the author of several works of nonfiction, including A Primate’s Memoir, The Trouble with Testosterone, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, and most recently, Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will. His book titled Behave was a New York Times bestseller and named a best book of the year by The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He is the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor of biology, neurology, and neurosurgery at Stanford University and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant.” He and his wife live in San Francisco.
Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.
#247 - Constructing Minds
#246 - Police Training & Police Misconduct
#245 - Can We Talk About Scary Ideas?
#244 - Food, Climate, and Pandemic Risk
#243 - A Few Points of Confusion
#242 - Psychedelics and the Self
#241 - Final Thoughts on Free Will
#240 - The Boundaries of Self
#239 - Yet Another Call from Ricky Gervais
#238 - How to Build a Universe
#237 - Another Call from Ricky Gervais
#236 - Rebooting New York City
#235 - A Call from Ricky Gervais
#234 - The Divided Mind
#233 - In the Groves of Misinformation
#232 - Inequality & Revolution
#231 - Crossing the Abyss
#230 - An Insurrection of Lies
#229 - A Few Thoughts for a New Year
#228 - Doing Good
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