Robert Sapolsky

Is free will a scientific fact? Dr. Kevin Mitchell, neuroscientist and the author of Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will, certainly thinks so. While some, like recent guest Robert Sapolsky, argue that biology and physics can explain away free will, Kevin begs to differ. Join Adam and Kevin in this episode as they dive into how evolution paved the way for free will and unravel the common misconceptions surrounding the "I" that makes choices. Find Kevin's book at at factuallypod.com/books

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Dr. Jordan B Peterson sits down with Neuroendocrinology researcher and author of the upcoming book Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, Robert Sapolsky. They discuss how Game Theory applies to human behavior across iterative rounds of play, the unexpected success of the tit-for-tat principle, the role of dopamine in the anticipation of the future, and the objective reality of transcendent structures within our biological routines.

Robert Sapolsky is an American Neuroendocrinology researcher, author, and communicator. He has spent decades studying primates in the wild, written numerous articles and books, as well as produced multiple video series on the subject. By the age of 12, Sapolsky was writing to well known primatologists as a fan, and had also begun teaching himself swahili with the early ambition of heading to Tanzanian, Mozambique, and Kenya in search of his own primates (Specifically Silverback Gorillas) to study. Not too much later, Sapolsky would make contact with a group of gorillas in Kenya, a group he would visit every year for 25 years, spending 4 months studying them at a time.  Sapolsky would go on to become the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor at Stanford University, holding joint appointments in several departments, including Biological Sciences, Neurology & Neurological Sciences, and Neurosurgery.

- Links -

For Robert Sapolsky:

Determined (Book) https://www.amazon.com/Determined-Science-Life-without-Free/dp/B0BVNSX4CQ/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=QFjFx&content-id=amzn1.sym.579192ca-1482-4409-abe7-9e14f17ac827&pf_rd_p=579192ca-1482-4409-abe7-9e14f17ac827&pf_rd_r=138-5878495-9086964&pd_rd_wg=c78OT&pd_rd_r=59b94cd4-c046-4970-af71-a6cd4f439f77&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk

Behave (Book) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/592344/determined-by-robert-m-sapolsky/

Robert Sapolsky on X https://twitter.com/robot_sapolsky?lang=en

View the Show Notes Page for This Episode

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In this episode, Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D., discusses the widespread impact of stress on our physical and emotional health as well as the mechanisms by which it can precipitate chronic illness, dementia, depression, and more. He also provides insight into the factors that contribute to the stress response (and our ability to handle it) such as social rank, personality, environment, and genetics. Lastly, we discuss how our behavior is altered in the face of stress and how that not only has a pervasive effect on a personal level, but also on society as a whole in how we interact with each other.

We discuss:

• Background, interest in stress, and Robert’s time in Kenya studying baboons [2:45];
• Physiology of a stress response, and why it’s ingrained in our DNA [9:45];
• Individual variation in the response to stress, and how everyone has a different optimal level [19:45];
• How social rank and personality differences affect our stress response [26:30];
• What’s happening in the brain when faced with stressful situations? [35:00];
• What makes the human brain different than all other species? [44:15];
• Imprinting stress to your kids epigenetically [48:00];
• The role of stress on memory and the consequences of hypercortisolemia [53:00];
• The impact of subjective socioeconomic status and social media on stress levels and health [57:45];
• Tips for managing stress in the modern world [1:13:15];
• What Robert learned about himself studying the social behavior of baboons [1:25:30];
• The multilayered factors behind every human behavior, the context of “good and bad”, and exploring the human capacity of the wild extremes of violence and altruism from moment to moment [1:30:15];
• PMS: How two women with identical hormone levels can have completely different emotional experiences [1:34:45];
• How much of a role do genes play in depression and other emotional states? [1:38:00];
• Why is cortisol elevated under sleep deprivation? [1:46:00];
• The impact of stress on cancer [1:50:30];
• The impact of stress on atherosclerosis, dementia, addiction, and depression [1:57:00];
• Impulsiveness, impaired judgment, and lack of empathy in times of stress [2:01:45];
• What advice would Robert give his 25-year-old self? [2:08:45]; and
• More.

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