{"id":236302,"date":"2026-05-01T10:06:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T15:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/you-have-no-free-will-at-all-stanford-professor-robert-sapolsky"},"modified":"2026-05-01T10:06:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T15:06:01","slug":"you-have-no-free-will-at-all-stanford-professor-robert-sapolsky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/you-have-no-free-will-at-all-stanford-professor-robert-sapolsky","title":{"rendered":"You have no free will at all | Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky"},"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\/ke8oFS8-fBk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: <a href=\"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/membership\/?utm_\">https:\/\/bigthink.com\/membership\/?utm_<\/a>\u2026 How your biology and environment make your decisions for you, according to Dr. Robert Sapolsky.<\/p>\n<p>Up next, Your reptilian brain, explained \u25ba \u2022 Your reptilian brain, explained | Robert S\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Robert Sapolsky, PhD is an author, researcher, and professor of biology, neurology, and neurosurgery at Stanford University. In this interview with Big Think\u2019s Editor-in-Chief, Robert Chapman Smith, Sapolsky discusses the content of his most recent book, \u201cDetermined: The Science of Life Without Free Will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Being held as a child, growing up in a collectivist culture, or experiencing any sort of brain trauma \u2013 among hundreds of other things \u2013 can shape your internal biases and ultimately influence the decisions you make. This, explains Sapolsky, means that free will is not \u2013 and never has been \u2013 real. Even physiological factors like hunger can discreetly influence decision making, as discovered in a study that found judges were more likely to grant parole after they had eaten.<\/p>\n<p>This insight is key for interpreting human behavior, helping not only scientists but those who aim to evolve education systems, mental health research, and even policy making.<\/p>\n<p>Go Deeper with Big Think:<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/you-have-no-free-will-at-all-stanford-professor-robert-sapolsky\">Continue reading \u201cYou have no free will at all | Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky\u201d | &gt;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https:\/\/bigthink.com\/membership\/?utm_\u2026 How your biology and environment make your decisions for you, according to Dr. Robert Sapolsky. Up next, Your reptilian brain, explained \u25ba \u2022 Your reptilian brain, explained | Robert S\u2026 Robert Sapolsky, PhD is an author, researcher, and [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,32,47,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-education","category-neuroscience","category-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236302","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=236302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}