Book Discussion "Determined" by Robert M. Sapolsky

Our book for August is Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will by neuroscientist and primatologist Robert M. Sapolsky.

From Amazon:
[I]n Determined, Sapolsky…mount[s] a brilliant (and in his inimitable way, delightful) full-frontal assault on the pleasant fantasy that there is some separate self telling our biology what to do…One by one, Sapolsky tackles all the major arguments for free will and takes them out, cutting a path through the thickets of chaos and complexity science and quantum physics, as well as touching ground on some of the wilder shores of philosophy.

Yet, as he acknowledges, it’s very hard, and at times impossible, to uncouple from our zeal to judge others and to judge ourselves. Sapolsky applies the new understanding of life beyond free will to some of our most essential questions around punishment, morality, and living well together. By the end, Sapolsky argues that while living our daily lives recognizing that we have no free will is going to be monumentally difficult, doing so is not going to result in anarchy, pointlessness, and existential malaise. Instead, it will make for a much more humane world.

“The behavioral scientist engagingly lays out the reasons why our every action is predetermined – and why we shouldn’t despair about it…Determined is a bravura performance, well worth reading for the pleasure of Sapolsky’s deeply informed company.” – The Guardian