Completed: 12/20/2023
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody
Review:
What a staggering book. The concept is that there is no free will. Sapolsky makes a compelling case that free will is an illusion and while I am not ready to accept everything, the evidence is pretty strong. It is pretty overwhelming to imagine that we do what we do because that is just the way our bodies and brains are wired. Oddly, it is equally overwhelming to imagine that is not the case. If Sapolsky is correct, then our criminal justice system is kind of like burning people at the stake for being witches. It is wrong, it is inhumane, and it is horrifying. I do not know what to make of it right now, but Sapolsky does a decent job of arguing that we simply treat each other poorly. He makes the argument that we have overcome fear and bias in other areas and now attribute actions to a disease and not the person in numerous cases. Our society is no worse for this attribution and is truly better. It is hard for me to imagine where this goes--what a society based on no free will looks like. Very worth thinking about, however.
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