#91 — The Biology of Good and Evil

Making Sense with Sam Harris

Waking Up with Sam Harris

Samharris, Currentevents, Politics, Ethics, Religion, Neuroscience, Science, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.6 • 29.1K Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2017

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sam Harris speaks with Robert Sapolsky about his work with baboons, the opposition between reason and emotion, doubt, the evolution of the brain, the civilizing role of the frontal cortex, the illusion of free will, justice and vengeance, brain-machine interface, religion, drugs, and other topics.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast. This is Sam Harris. Just a note to say that if you're
0:12.1	hearing this, you are not currently on our subscriber feed and will only be hearing
0:16.2	the first part of this conversation. In order to access full episodes of the Making Sense
0:20.7	Podcast, you'll need to subscribe at samharis.org. There you'll find our private RSS feed
0:26.1	to add to your favorite pod catcher, along with other subscriber-only content. We don't run ads
0:31.2	on the podcast, and therefore it's made possible entirely through the support of our subscribers.
0:35.8	So if you enjoy what we're doing here, please consider becoming one.
0:46.6	Today I'm speaking with Robert Sapolsky. Robert is a neuroendocrinologist and a primatologist.
0:52.8	He's a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, and the recipient of a MacArthur
1:00.1	so-called genius grant. I don't know if that's the official title of that grant. Does one have to say
1:05.8	so-called there? In any case, Robert really is a superstar professor and communicator of science,
1:12.8	as well as a top flight scientist. And as I say in the beginning, I remember being in a class at
1:18.8	Stanford when he came in as a guest lecturer, and I recall that being one of the moments that
1:25.1	nudged me toward doing my PhD in neuroscience rather than philosophy. I would want to speak to
1:30.4	Robert for quite some time. He's actually been one of my most frequently requested guests.
1:36.2	In this episode, we discuss his new book, Behave, the biology of humans at our best and worst,
1:42.3	which I highly recommend. It really is the most accessible discussion of brain science you will find.
1:50.4	And for those of you who want more talk about free will, about the fact that the concept doesn't
1:56.4	make much sense, and about why that matters, we get into that at the end. And now without further
2:04.1	delay, I bring you Robert Sapolsky. I am here with Robert Sapolsky. Robert, thanks for coming
2:15.5	on the podcast. Sure. Glad to be here. As you and I know, but our listeners don't, we have been
2:22.3	fighting our robot overlords to get a clear connection here. Now with two attempts, and I think
	...

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