The case against Free Will … does Free will exist ? / Neuroscience

I prepared a summary just to give you some context and introduce you to this topic:

Free will, in philosophy and science, is the supposed power or capacity of humans to make decisions or perform actions independently of any prior event or state of the universe.

Philosophers have been debating fate vs. free will for centuries. Some believe that people’s lives and choices are predetermined, while others believe that humans are responsible for their own actions.

A person who is forced at gunpoint to do something, does so with considerably less free will than someone who does something voluntarily. Similarly, a person with a brain disorder that causes constant coughing lacks free will over their coughing, even though they likely retain free will in other ways.

Most of us are certain that we have free will, though what exactly this amounts to is much less certain. According to David Hume, the question of the nature of free will is “the most contentious question of metaphysics.” If this is correct, then figuring out what free will is will be no small task indeed.

Most neuroscientists believe humans have at least some degree of free will. So do most philosophers and the vast majority of the general population. Free will is essential to how we see ourselves, fuelling the satisfaction of achievement or the shame of failing to do the right thing.

There is a kind of free will that we don’t, and cannot have, which is called Absolute Free Will. This is the kind that allows us to do otherwise for any previous decision. This type of free will is required for Moral Responsibility because if someone could not have done otherwise then they are not morally responsible.

Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky believes humans have no free will. By studying baboons in Africa and human behaviour for decades, he’s concluded neurochemical influences determine human behaviour. The supposition should create a more just world, Sapolsky claims.

Here the paradox is that not only is the status of the concept a matter for debate, but the very existence of free will as a subject of research remains unclear.

Many philosophers and theologians have however, taken the general idea of free will as a legitimate defense and explanation for the problem of evil. The (religious) argument is made that God desires free creatures, free creatures are created, and therefore it is the free creatures that bring evil into the world.

Most psychologists use the concept of free will to express the idea that behaviour is not a passive reaction to forces but that individuals actively respond to internal and external forces.

14 Mar 2024

Is there a quantum reason we could have free will? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice explore the concept of free will and predetermination with neuroscientist, biologist, and author of Determined: The Science of Life Without Free Will, Robert Sapolsky.

A special thanks from our editors to Robert Sapolsky’s dog.

Could we put an end to the question of whether or not we have free will? Discover “The Hungry Judge Effect” and how little bits of biology affect our actions. We break down a physicist’s perspective of free will, The Big Bang, and chaos theory. Is it enough to just feel like we have free will? Why is it an issue to think you have free will if you don’t?

We discuss the difference between free will in big decisions versus everyday decisions. How do you turn out to be the type of person who chooses vanilla ice cream over strawberry? We explore how quantum physics and virtual particles factor into predetermination. Could quantum randomness change the actions of an atom? How can society best account for a lack of free will? Are people still responsible for their actions?

What would Chuck do if he could do anything he wanted? We also discuss the benefits of a society that acknowledges powers outside of our control and scientific advancements made. How is meritocracy impacted by free will? Plus, can you change if people believe in free will if they have no free will in believing so?

Thanks to our Patrons Pro Handyman, Brad K. Daniels, Starman, Stephen Somers, Nina Kane, Paul Applegate, and David Goldberg for supporting us this week.

A special thanks from our editors to Robert Sapolsky’s dog.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free.

31 Jan 2024

Does free will truly exist, or are we merely sophisticated meat machines running our biochemical programming with sentience as a byproduct? Stanford University neurologist Robert Sapolsky, having extensively studied the topic, asserts that not only is free will a myth but also that our insistence on its reality adversely affects the world we inhabit. In this episode, Adam speaks with Dr. Sapolsky about how choice is an illusion and the impact this has on our society, from workplace meritocracies to criminal justice reform. Find Dr. Sapolsky’s book, Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will, at factuallypod.com/books

The Neuro-biology of trans-sexuality / What is gender? / Neuroendocrinology, Social Movements, Discrimination & Assumptions

3 Oct 2021

This is a snippet from ‘Lecture 15: Human Sexual Behavior I’ of Stanford’s ‘Introduction to Behavioural Biology’ given by prof. Robert Sapolsky.

8 Jun 2023

What if gender wasn’t a predetermined reality, but a fluid construct formed by culture, history, and individual identity? This is a question that drives the work of Judith Butler, a gender theorist and distinguished professor at the University of California at Berkeley.

While acknowledging the biological realities of sex, Butler promotes the concept of gender as performative — something that is enacted and shaped through our actions and interactions. This view, although challenging to traditional perspectives, is instrumental in the discourse on queer, trans, and women’s rights. Butler encourages a shift in societal conversation to include diverse gender identities.

This transformation, they believe, allows us to work toward a society where equality, freedom, and justice are at the forefront, reinforcing the foundations of our democratic society.

0:00 What is gender theory?
1:34 Sex and gender: What’s the difference?
2:29 Learning from genocide
3:34 Queer theory in the 1970s & ’80s
4:56 Big ideas in gender theory’s evolution
7:06 Gender is “performative”: What that means
9:04 The resistance to trans rights
10:37 Countering the attack on gender

About Judith Butler:
Judith Butler is a post-structuralist philosopher and queer theorist. They are most famous for the notion of gender performativity, but their work ranges from literary theory, modern philosophical fiction, feminist and sexuality studies, to 19th- and 20th-century European literature and philosophy, Kafka and loss, mourning and war.

They have received countless awards for their teaching and scholarship, including a Guggenheim fellowship, a Rockefeller fellowship, Yale’s Brudner Prize, and an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement Award.

Their books include “Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity,” “Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex,” “Undoing Gender,” and “Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable?”

The 3 brains we have: reptilian, mammalian (limbic) and cortex / Neuroscience

The brain consists of three layers: the reptilian brain, the limbic system, and the cerebral cortex. The reptilian brain controls bodily functions like hormones, body temperature, and hunger. The limbic system handles emotions such as fear, anger, joy, and gratitude. The cerebral cortex is responsible for impulse control, decision making, and long-term planning.

Understanding the functions of each part of the brain allows for more mindful thoughts and better decision-making. For instance, recalling a favourite memory or something that brings happiness can activate the reptilian brain, resulting in a decrease in body temperature and blood pressure. This can reduce stress and promote a more joyful experience throughout the day.

In this video, neurologist Robert Sapolsky explores these concepts in greater depth.

2 Jun 2023

You’ve heard about your ‘lizard brain’. But what about the other two?

What’s the best way to think about the brain? While most of us think of it as a dense gray matter that’s separate from the physical body, that actually couldn’t be further from the truth. Our brain is actually made up of 3 layers, and each layer not only directly impacts the other, but has control over the physical body and how you feel.

Neurologist Robert Sapolsky explores these separate brain systems as individual characters, all with different goals and motives. The brain comes in 3 functional layers: the reptilian brain, the limbic system, and the cerebral cortex. The reptilian brain controls the regulatory systems in your body like hormones, body temperature, blood pressure, and even hunger. The limbic system is the emotional function of your brain, making you feel fear, anger, joy, or gratitude.

Finally, the cerebral cortex is the most evolved part of the brain that oversees impulse control, decision making, and long-term planning. With a better understanding of how each part of the brain functions, we can have more mindful thoughts that will influence more favourable decision-making and outcomes in life. For example, when you think of your favourite memory or something that makes you happy, your reptilian brain will quickly cool down your body and even lower your blood pressure. This can then lead to feeling less stressed, and finding more joy throughout the day.

How stress impacts the human Body / Neuro-endocrinology

31 May 2017

How can humans be so compassionate and altruistic — and also so brutal and violent? To understand why we do what we do, neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky looks at extreme context, examining actions on timescales from seconds to millions of years before they occurred. In this fascinating talk, he shares his cutting edge research into the biology that drives our worst and best behaviours.

14 Oct 2023

Dr Robert Sapolsky is a Professor at Stanford University, a world-leading researcher, and an author. Stress is an inevitable part of human life. But what is stress actually doing to the human body when it happens for such a prolonged period of time? And what does science say are the best interventions to defeat it?

Expect to learn the crucial difference between short term and long term stress, how stress actually impacts the human system, the neurodevelopmental consequences of stress and poverty, how to detrain your dopamine sensitivity, what everyone doesn’t understand about how hormones work, whether believing in free will is a useful world view, why there is a relationship between belief in free will and obesity and much more…

00:00 What Robert Wished People Knew About Stress
06:00 Where is the Threshold of Short-Term Stress Becoming Long-Term?
12:29 How Brain Development is Influenced by Mother’s Socioeconomic Status
25:50 Does Your Stress Impact Your Descendants?
29:00 Finding Solutions to Manage Stress
35:52 How to Better Enjoy the Good Things in Life
42:50 Can You Actually Detox from Dopamine?
53:18 Why Robert Wanted to Study Our Lack of Free Will
1:01:46 How Having No Conscious Agency Impacts Justice
1:11:10 The Myth of the Self-Made Man
1:32:43 How to Acknowledge Your Lack of Agency & Not Feel Depressed
1:40:22 Where to Find Robert

is there free will or a fixed designed destiny? | biology, religion, philosophy, science & linguistics

share your ideas

28 Mar 2021

“What does it mean to have—or not have—free will? Were the actions of mass murderers pre-determined billions of years ago? Do brain processes trump personal responsibility? Can experiments prove that free will is an illusion? Bill Nye, Steven Pinker, Daniel Dennett, Michio Kaku, Robert Sapolsky, and others approach the topic from their unique fields and illustrate how complex and layered the free will debate is. From Newtonian determinism, to brain chemistry, to a Dennett thought experiment, explore the arguments that make up the free will landscape.

———————————————————————————-

TRANSCRIPT: – Well, you ask one of the deepest philosophical questions of physics. The question of free will. – For billions of years on this planet, there was life, but no free will. Physics hasn’t changed, but now we have free will. – The brains are automatic, but people are free. – Our ability to choose is often confused. – Human choices will not be predictable in any simple way. – In reality, I don’t think there’s any free will at all.

DANIEL DENNETT: For billions of years on this planet there was life, but no free will. Physics hasn’t changed, but now we have free will. The difference is not in physics. It has to do with, ultimately, with biology. Particularly evolutionary biology. What has happened over those billions of years, is that greater and greater competences have been designed and have evolved. And the competence of a dolphin, or of a chimpanzee, the cognitive competence, the sort of mental competence, is hugely superior to the competence of a lobster, or a starfish. But ours dwarfs the competence of a dolphin or a chimpanzee, perhaps to an even greater extent. And there’s an entirely naturalistic story to say, to tell about how we came to have that competence, or those competences. And it’s that, “Can do.” It’s that power that we have which is natural, but it’s that power which sets us aside from every other species. And the key to it is that we don’t just act for reasons. We represent our reasons to ourselves and to others. The business of asking somebody, “Why did you do that?” And the person being able to answer, it is the key to responsibility. And in fact, the word, “responsibility,” sort of wears its meaning on its sleeve. We are responsible because we can respond to challenges to our reasons. Why? Because we don’t just act for reasons, we act for reasons that we consciously represent to ourselves. And this is what gives us the power and the obligation to think ahead, to anticipate, to see the consequences of our action. To be able to evaluate those consequences in the light of what other people tell us. To share our wisdom with each other. No other species can do anything like it. And it’s because we can share our wisdom that we have a special responsibility. That’s what makes us free in a way that no bird is free, for instance. There’s a very sharp limit to the depth that we as conscious agents can probe our own activities. This sort of superficial access that we have to what’s going on, that’s what consciousness is. Now, when I say, who’s this, “we,” who’s got this access? That’s itself part of the illusion because there isn’t a, sort of, boss part of the brain that’s sitting there with this limited access. That itself is part of the illusion. What it is, is a bunch of different subsystems, which have varying access to varying things and that conspire in a sort of competitive way to execute whatever projects it is that they’re, in their, sort of, mindless way executing.

STEVEN PINKER: I don’t believe there’s such a thing as free will in the sense of a ghost in the machine, a spirit, or soul that somehow reads the TV screen of the senses and pushes buttons and pulls levers of behaviour. There’s no sense that we can make of that. I think we are…our behaviour is the product of physical processes in the brain. On the other hand, when you have a brain that consists of a hundred billion neurons, connected by a hundred trillion synapses, there is a vast amount of complexity. That means that human choices will not be predictable in any simple way from the stimuli that have impinged on it beforehand. We also know that that brain is set up so that there are at least two kinds of behaviour. There’s what happens when I shine a light in your eye and your iris contracts, or I hit your knee with a hammer and your leg jerks upward. We also know that there’s a part of the brain that does things like choose what to have for dinner, whether to order chocolate, or vanilla ice cream. How to move the next chess piece…

How hormones work in our metabolism | ghrelin, leptin & insulin | health

Ghrelin, leptin & Insulin !  Metabolism: Calories vs Hormones !

Links to Dr. Fung’s books! The Diabetes Code: https://amzn.to/2uLTzcq The Longevity Solution: https://amzn.to/2uomnF8 The Complete Guide to Fasting: https://amzn.to/2Elfd70 The Obesity Code: https://amzn.to/2Fj9P6R Free eCourse: https://courses.highintensityhealth.c… New Live Webinar: http://bit.ly/2VjtFJj ➢ MCT On the Go: https://amzn.to/2UMLxIR ➢ Link to Mouth Tape: https://amzn.to/2Ll436p

04:03 The Calories notion is false. 13:54 We have a mechanism in our body that determines how fat we get.

19:39 Your body weight set point is being reset upward. 20:23 To reset your body weight set point, you need to get your insulin low for a significant amount of time in order to get your leptin levels low.

24:14 When you eat all day, you are telling your body to store fat all day and you get fat. 25:07 Fat storage is a hormonal signal, not a caloric signal.

29:41 Intermittent fasting is not about how many calories you eat. It is about the time that you are not eating. 31:24 Insulin inhibits lipolysis, stopping you from burning fat. 32:24 On a 7 day water only fast, your insulin falls and you switch from burning food to burning fat.

33:13 During fasting, as your insulin falls, you get a counter-regulatory hormone surge, increasing adrenaline, noradrenaline, growth hormone and cortisol. 33:53 There is a period of gluconeogenesis at around 24 hours into fasting. You will burn protein, not muscle.

35:40 If the old protein is never broken down, you cannot build new protein. 37:26 You get much better retention of lean mass with an intermittent fasting strategy over cutting calories. 38:24 Biggest Loser style diets sink metabolic rates.

42:15 Women can fast. Ghrelin is the hunger hormone. Women have higher ghrelin spikes. 43:01 If you don’t eat over 24 hours ghrelin spikes 3 times, at breakfast, lunch and dinner, then drops. Hunger does not continue to increase.

45:04 Cravings disappear with fasting and keto. 49:38 You can eat high carb foods and keep low insulin. 51:09 Sugar is more fattening than other carbohydrates. 53:51 Natural foods have natural satiety mechanisms.

01:08:31 Type 2 diabetes is misunderstood by doctors. 01:10:08 Blood glucose is a symptom of type 2 diabetes. We treat the symptom, not the disease. 01:12:15 Type 2 diabetes is reversible, except for the very late stage. 01:16:42 The longer you’ve been overweight the more it effects weight loss.

01:18:08 There are conflicts of interest in medicine. Much evidence is produced by pharmaceutical companies. Universities take funding from industry and produce shoddy research. 01:30:21 Bias in nutrition science is rampant and has stymied the advancement of actual science. Special interest needs to be out of research.

if u would like to learn more about this subject, you can visit: 

https://brainperks4u.wordpress.com/2019/05/05/when-you-fast-you-feel-more-o-less-hunger-what-happens-with-ur-ghrelin-levels-health/

https://brainperks4u.wordpress.com/2019/05/05/can-fasting-cause-muscle-loss-or-high-insuline-levels-or-increase-of-hunger-and-ghrelin-levels-nephrologist-jason-fung-health/

Can fasting cause muscle loss or high insuline levels or increase of hunger and ghrelin levels ? | nephrologist jason fung | health

What is fasting ? What is ketosis ?

Dr. Jason Fung discusses how fasting changed your hormones, enhances fat loss and why it doesn’t lead to muscle loss.

➢New Video w/ Dr. Fung: https://youtu.be/jXXGxoNFag4

The Complete Guide to Fasting: https://amzn.to/2Elfd70

The Obesity Code: https://amzn.to/2Fj9P6R

➢Free Keto Primer eCourse https://courses.highintensityhealth.c…

➢ New Webinar on Autophagy: http://bit.ly/2VjtFJj

➢ MCT On the Go: https://amzn.to/2UMLxIR

Other Books by Dr. Fung: The Diabetes Code: https://amzn.to/2uLTzcq

The Longevity Solution: https://amzn.to/2uomnF8

What is fasting ? how to burn fat and carbohydrates ? type 2 diabetes & insuline resistance metabolisms | health

Nephrologist Jason Fung explains and describes fasting, diabetes, storing energy and fat, burning carbohydrates and fat, insuline and metabolism

Jason Fung: The Complete Guide to Fasting (& how to burn fat) Full Interview & transcript: http://180nutrition.com.au/180-tv/jas… View the complete transcript on our website here: https://180nutrition.com.au/180-tv/ja… This week welcome to the show Jason Fung.

He is a Toronto based nephrologist. He completed medical school and internal medicine at the University of Toronto before finishing his nephrology fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles at the Cedars-Sinai hospital. He joined Scarborough General Hospital in 2001 where he continues to practice.

Questions we ask in this episode: Fasting can be intimidating and scary. ie: I will starve, waste-away and lose my muscle. Should we be fearful? Is fasting for everyone? The weight loss industry tells us to eat less calories, but snack between meals.

Won’t fasting put us into starvation mode? Does fasting give us a license to eat whatever we want when we are not fasting? Can fasting benefit athletes and how would they apply it?

When you fast you feel more o less hunger ? What happens with ur ghrelin levels ? | health

What is the difference between eating less and fasting ? 

What is ketosis ?

Is ur metabolism burning carbohydrates or fat ?

This is about the drastic physiological differences between fasting and eating less *NOTE* One of the key things in being able to fast in a healthy matter is entering the state of ketosis – that is, switching your metabolism from burning carbohydrate to burning fat.

*Considering most people have been burning carbohydrate their whole lives* this can make fasting a challenge.

Upton Sinclair recommends doing quite long fasts – 12 days, but you may want to work your way up to longer fasts. Unless you are relatively keto adapted (or have experience with fasting of course), it’s important that you take precautions while doing a fast. Fasting isn’t inherently dangerous, *but diving into fasting when your body is in no way geared for it can be.*

I recommend doing more research before doing longer fasts. “The Complete Guide to Fasting” (http://amzn.to/2tQjxXa) is a good book to start with. As Tim Ferriss puts it: Please don’t do anything stupid and kill yourself. It would make us both quite unhappy.

Just in case I should also say that of course you need to balance fasting with eating – You need to survive off of something. I have been doing intermittent fasting the past year (22 hours fasted, 2 hours eating – you can widen it to 16/8, which still provides great benefits) and will fast for a couple days every other month or so. Several other people have recommend a routine like this – Tim Ferriss recommends doing a 3 day fast once per month and a 7 day fast once per year.

Also make sure you’re getting enough fat, protein, micronutrients and fiber to maintain a healthy weight and healthy body – *excessive* fasting can be very dangerous. Books Mentioned: “The Obesity Code” by Dr. Jason Fung – http://amzn.to/2rXtalh “The Fasting Cure” by Upton Sinclair – (If you google the title you can find the full book online) “Tools of Titans” by Tim Ferriss –

You should always consult and visit a professional doctor !

 

Dr. Jason Fung completed medical school and internal medicine at the University of Toronto before finishing his nephrology fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles at the Cedars-Sinai hospital.

He now has a practice in Ontario, Canada where he uses his Intensive Dietary Management program to help all sorts of patients, but especially those suffering from the two big epidemics of modern times: obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Fung uses innovative solutions to these problems, realising that conventional treatments are not that effective in helping people.

What have you heard about ketosis ? | Why has fasting become trendy ? | health

Why doing physical exercise is so beneficial for brain growth ?

How do we produce ketones ?   What are they good for ?

Some think Ketosis is dangerous, but it might just be the most efficient fuel for humans.

Ketogenic diets and fasting have gained a lot of attention and foods like coconut oil, MCT Oil, Grassfed butter and the like have come along for the ride.

But some people are still worried about adverse health effects considering this movement runs entirely against conventional health “wisdom.” Our biology might just *prefer* ketones to glucose/carbohydrate.

Credit to Robert Sapolsky for the story of the Thymus gland. He has two wonderful books in which this point arises: “Why Zebras don’t get Ulcers” : http://amzn.to/2ux2Tge “The Trouble With Testosterone” : http://amzn.to/2swsIvF

[BLINKIST] Blinkist is an app I’ve been using lately to discover new books and review the ones I’ve already read. It gives you the key points in text or audio form from tons of different non-fiction books. Since I’m always going through so many books to get these done, it’s very useful to get me exposed to more concepts beforehand to know if it’s worth my time to buy and read through that particular book. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/2sbegMN

You should always consult and visit a professional doctor !

*to learn keto dessert recipes visit: 

https://brainperks4u.wordpress.com/2022/01/27/easy-quick-keto-dessert-recipes-cooking-health-wellbeing/

https://brainperks4u.wordpress.com/2022/01/27/keto-lemon-ricotta-cookie-recipe-healthy-cooking-wellbeing/

https://brainperks4u.wordpress.com/2022/01/27/keto-earth-shaking-cake-recipe-healthy-cooking-wellbeing/

*always check diets with your doctor