Robert Sapolsky: Why did behaviour occur?

Discussions
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I found this very interesting and thought I’d share it with you guys, if you want to discuss it further here or webchat I’ll be up for it.

This is Robert Sapolsky talking about this very subject, behavior, genes, our sensory information and our decision making. He also gets into the role of testosterone and oxytocin in our behavior pattern.

I hope you’ll find it useful and as interesting as I did.

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Clearly we traffic in the same YouTube algorithmic suggestions, Kafka. I just finished watching that video about 4 hours ago. Amazing. Reddit would tell me this is the Baader-Meinhoff phenomenon.

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Also, though he presents the data as scientifically and clearly as he can (and the science seems sound), it is quite apparent what his biases are when he begins answering questions. He seeks, as Darwin did, to find rational mechanistic explanations for biological patterns in order to supplant any potential references to God or gods. He also- more apparent in his later career- firmly contends that free will does not exist. I agree with Sapolski that our current understanding of biological systems is becoming more and more nuanced in the complexity of its information networks and as a consequence we are seeing that choices are influenced by a great deal of complex systems, but I do not leap from complex to deterministic as he does.

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Around here we call that, great minds think alike :wink:

I have only recently discovered Robert although it seems I have listened to his chat with Sam Harris during the summer without knowing who he was or much about him.

I really found that vid and this one where he talks more ingoingly about depression really fascinating. The man knows a lot about how the human brain works, what stimulates us and what how urges are created.

I still haven’t landed on the Free will issue, I feel like we only have free will within confinement. But I did find his quote “Free will is only biology that hasn’t been discovered yet” really intresteing. But that would be a really long and arduous journey to map out everything that triggers us humans, stimulates us and motivates us and be 100% sure about it too.