{"id":198780,"date":"2024-11-04T09:25:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/robert-sapolsky-the-brain-determinism-and-cultural-implications-the-great-simplification-88"},"modified":"2024-11-04T09:25:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:25:26","slug":"robert-sapolsky-the-brain-determinism-and-cultural-implications-the-great-simplification-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/robert-sapolsky-the-brain-determinism-and-cultural-implications-the-great-simplification-88","title":{"rendered":"Robert Sapolsky: \u201cThe Brain, Determinism, and Cultural Implications\u201d | The Great Simplification #88"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xhobcj2K9v4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>On this episode, neuroscientist and author Robert Sapolsky joins Nate to discuss the structure of the human brain and its implication on behavior and our ability to change. Dr. Sapolsky also unpacks how the innate quality of a biological organism shaped by evolution and the surrounding environment \u2014 meaning all animals, including humans \u2014 leads him to believe that there is no such thing as free will, at least how we think about it today. How do our past and present hormone levels, hunger, stress, and more affect the way we make decisions? What implications does this have in a future headed towards lower energy and resource availability? How can our species manage the mismatch of our evolutionary biology with our modern day challenges \u2014 and navigate through a \u2018determined\u2019 future?<\/p>\n<p>About Robert Sapolsky:<\/p>\n<p>Robert Sapolsky is professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research at the National Museum of Kenya. Over the past thirty years, he has divided his time between the lab, where he studies how stress hormones can damage the brain, and in East Africa, where he studies the impact of chronic stress on the health of baboons. Sapolsky is author of several books, including Why Zebras Don\u2019t Get Ulcers, A Primate\u2019s Memoir, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, and his newest book coming out in October, Determined: Life Without Free Will. He lives with his family in San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p>For Show Notes and More visit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegreatsimplification.co\">https:\/\/www.thegreatsimplification.co<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>00:00 \u2014 Episode highlight.<br \/> 00:15 \u2014 Guest introduction.<br \/> 03:10 \u2014 When did Robert know he wanted to study animal behavior?<br \/> 04:40 \u2014 When was his last research trip?<br \/> 05:46 \u2014 Challenges that come from differences from modern and ancestral environments.<br \/> 07:20 \u2014 Physiology and our emotions.<br \/> 09:37 \u2014 Divide in evolutionary beliefs.<br \/> 12:13 \u2014 Behavioral science and religion.<br \/> 14:40 \u2014 Past students\u2019 impacted by Robert.<br \/> 16:48 \u2014 Testosterone.<br \/> 21:07 \u2014 Dopamine.<br \/> 29:02 \u2014 Oxytocin.<br \/> 32:19 \u2014 Hormones affecting social behavior.<br \/> 38:21 \u2014 Changing the environmental stimuli of pregnant people to positively impact fetus\u2019 development.<br \/> 41:55 \u2014 Free will.<br \/> 57:24 \u2014 Science of attractiveness.<br \/> 58:55 \u2014 Do people have free will?<br \/> 1:13:12 \u2014 Emergence.<br \/> 1:18:17 \u2014 Quantum and indeterminacy.<br \/> 1:19:18 \u2014 Complexity of free will.<br \/> 1:23:46 \u2014 Difference between free will and agency.<br \/> 1:26:43 \u2014 How to use Robert\u2019s work to change policies around the world in a positive way.<br \/> 1:29:15 \u2014 What\u2019s the difference between a deterministic world and a fatalistic one?<br \/> 1:34:39 \u2014 Robert\u2019s thoughts on his newest book, Determined: Life Without Free Will.<br \/> 1:40:48 \u2014 Key components in a new systems society understanding this science.<br \/> 1:45:30 \u2014 What should listeners take away from this podcast?<br \/> 1:47:32 \u2014 Robert\u2019s recommendations for the polycrisis.<br \/> 1:52:20 \u2014 What Robert cares most about in the world.<br \/> 1:53:00 \u2014 Robert\u2019s magic wand.<br \/> 1:54:36 \u2014 Future topics of conversations.<\/p>\n<p>#natehagens #thegreatsimplification #neuroscience #dopamine #freewill #testosterone<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/robert-sapolsky-the-brain-determinism-and-cultural-implications-the-great-simplification-88\">Continue reading \u201cRobert Sapolsky: \u201cThe Brain, Determinism, and Cultural Implications\u201d | The Great Simplification #88\u201d | &gt;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On this episode, neuroscientist and author Robert Sapolsky joins Nate to discuss the structure of the human brain and its implication on behavior and our ability to change. Dr. Sapolsky also unpacks how the innate quality of a biological organism shaped by evolution and the surrounding environment \u2014 meaning all animals, including humans \u2014 leads [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,32,385,1495,47,1617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biological","category-education","category-evolution","category-health","category-neuroscience","category-quantum-physics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198780\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}