The Biology of Human Behavior & Individuality: Is there Free Will?

What are we to make of our predicament as biological creatures? Biologically, our behavior is directly caused by our neurology responding to environmental stimuli in the context of our acute and chronic hormonal situation which was significantly shaped by our perinatal environment and its biology, not to mention the random factors inherent in our individual genetics which are also governed by the population genetics of our direct lineage which was shaped by the ecological factors that govern the complex of gene-environment interactions in that population plus the effects of millions of years of evolutionary history.

Given this biological causality, what does it mean to be an individual human being? What does it mean that our individuality is the result of both random and deterministic biological processes? Is our individuality not "us", but the imposition of our biology upon us? Is life simply our biology running the show giving us an illusion of free will? If our biology is responsible for who we are and how we behave, do we really have free will?

This meetup will be informed by four (4) optional videos.

• One hour introduction to Robert Sapolsky's exquisite Human Behavioral Biology (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=EC848F2368C90DDC3D) course at Stanford University. Read my extensive notes summarizing this introductory lecture (https://plus.google.com/104222466367230914966/posts/fJEsL2gyKsb). Read Jon Dakins' notes on this lecture (http://www.robertsapolskyrocks.com/intro-to-human-behavioral-biology.html).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnIGh9g6fA

• One hour concluding video for Robert Sapolsky's Human Behavioral Biology (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=EC848F2368C90DDC3D) course at Stanford University. Read my extensive notes summarizing the lecture (https://plus.google.com/104222466367230914966/posts/iypR2GQXhwJ). Read Jon Dakins' notes on this lecture (http://www.robertsapolskyrocks.com/individual-differences.html).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PpDq1WUtAw

• 25 minute Edge TV interview of Robert Sapolsky featuring a discussion on Taxoplasmosis (http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/). Read Jon Dakins' notes on this lecture (http://www.robertsapolskyrocks.com/toxoplasmosis.html).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3x3TMdkGdQ

• Five minute music video by Björk on "Human Behavior".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDbPYoaAiyc

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Straight_line.png

This is the tenth and concluding event in a series organized around topics inspired by Robert Sapolsky videos from his free on-line course Human Behavioral Biology (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=EC848F2368C90DDC3D). Here is the full list of topics from the series (each link takes you to an event description which references the relevant Sapolsky course videos for that topic, summaries and questions about each topic, links to notes about the videos, and comments from participants discussing the topics):

• The Evolutionary and Genetic Bases of Human Behavior: (14 Jul 2013 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/116303742/)) and (27 Jul 2013 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/128381212/)).

• The Biology of Learning: (10 Nov 2013 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/144382142/)) and (30 Nov 2013 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/148844402/)).

• Brain Science and Human Behavior: (12 Jan 2014 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/153389892/)), (18 Jan 2014 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/158107662/)), and (2 Feb 2014 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/161011212/)).

• The Biology of Human Sexual Behavior (9 Mar 2014 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/153541762/)) and (15 Mar 2014 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/168419202/)).

• The Biology of Morality: the roots of human aggression & empathy (4 May 2014 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/176276012/)) and (10 May 2014 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/179689272/)).

• Beyond Reductionism: The Biology of Complexity, Chaos & Emergence (10 May 2015 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/191317422/)).

• The Biology of Language (12 Jul 2015 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/222860826/)) and (25 Oct 2015 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/225978759/)).

• The Biology of Mental Illness: Schizophrenia and Depression (12 Sep 2015 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/223325873/)) and (31 Oct 2015 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/225284656/)).

• The Biology of Religiosity (9 Jan 2016 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/227484917/)) and (6 Feb 2016 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/227969490/)).

• The Biology of Human Behavior & Individuality: Is there Free Will? (This Topic)

Note: there was a prequel to the series in a discussion The Uniqueness and Evolution of Humans (15 April 2012 (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/50061542/)) on a Robert Sapolsky video that is related to the course content.