Do We Have Free Will and Will AI Have It Too? Sabine Hossenfelder - #507

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Physics, Natural Sciences, Science

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2025

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 Does free will exist? It's a question that's haunted philosophers for centuries. But physicist Sabine Hossenfelder has a provocative answer that might just disturb you. She says free will doesn't exist. Everything is determined by the laws of physics. But here's the paradox that's fascinated me. I've talked to Sam Harris, Dan Dennett, Robert Sapolsky, all brilliant minds who agree that free will is an illusion. Yet, when I asked them if they've ever encountered someone who acts like they don't have free will, they all said no. So how can this be? How can we all be determined by physics, yet live as if we're making genuine choices? This isn't some abstract philosophical exercise, no. Sabine's insight has real implications for artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and the future of consciousness itself. She explains why AI may already have the same kind of agency that we do, and why quantum computers could reveal that we fundamentally misunderstand the nature of reality. Key Takeaways: 00:26–04:39 – Determinism over “free will,” reframes self as information processor. 07:21–09:19 – Defines agency as internal deliberation vs. external input; AI has low agency. 10:48–14:50 – AI can learn without bodies; emotions could emerge via reward functions. 15:18–17:16 – UFO claims are mostly flaky but worth some serious consideration. 18:16–22:52 – “Quiz with It” uses AI for quizzes; AI may replace poor lecturers. 24:37–30:37 – Warns of LLM “lock-in”; expects new AI paradigms. 31:15–32:42 – Quantum computing promising for finance optimization; uncertain impact. 34:15–36:37 – Likes debates; thinks “theories of everything” overemphasized. 39:09–42:14 – Would fund quantum gravity & measurement problem experiments. 43:21–50:31 – Supports fuzzy dark matter search; inflation underdetermined; MOND captures some truth. 51:16–57:26 – Skeptical of DESI’s dark energy claim; cosmology data messy, model-dependent. 58:40–01:00:14 – Academic decline due to systemic incentives. 01:00:50–01:02:36 – Quantum tech advances reviving foundational physics interest. 01:09:30–01:12:23 – AI-generated junk (“AI slop”) threatens science publishing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional resources: Check out Sabine’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SabineHossenfelder ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get a copy of my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un 📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺 Neil Turok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt5cFLN65fI Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Eric Weinstein vs. Stephen Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose: https://youtu.be/AMuqyAvX7Wo Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/g00ilS6tBvs Avi Loeb: https://youtu.be/N9lUceHsLRw Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #intotheimpossible #briankeating #sabinehossenfelder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Does free will exist? It's a question that's haunted philosophers for centuries. But physicist,
0:05.7	Sabina Hansenfelder, has a provocative answer that might just disturb you. She says free will
0:10.8	doesn't exist. People just go, what do you mean by free will? And I was trying to say,
0:14.8	what doesn't really matter? Because what I'm talking about is like, what do we know about the laws
0:19.4	of physics? And why is it so hard to make
0:21.9	sense of this like on a personal level if you know that your brain is made of particles and we
0:27.9	know the laws that those particles are ruled by. Everything is determined by the laws of physics,
0:34.4	but here's the paradox that's fascinated me. I've talked to Sam Harris,
0:37.8	Dan Dennett, Robert Zupolski, all brilliant minds who agree that free will is an illusion. Yet,
0:43.2	when I asked them, if they've ever encountered someone who acts like they don't have free will,
0:47.7	they all said no. How can we all be determined by physics yet live as if we're making genuine choices?
0:53.3	This isn't some abstract philosophical
0:55.3	exercise, no. Sabina's insight has real implications for artificial intelligence, quantum computing
1:00.5	in the future of consciousness. She explains why AI may already have the same kind of agency
1:06.0	that we do and why quantum computers could reveal that we fundamentally misunderstand the nature of reality.
1:12.8	Savina, it's so great to see you again after more than a year. I don't think we talked very much in
1:17.3	2024, so it's great to see you. Good to see you, Brian. You've had a wonderful video yesterday
1:23.5	day before about this thought that changed your life. And to me, I was a little depressed because it seemed to say that, you know, everything is physics and everything is determined. And therefore, you know, you should maybe naively not be happy, but you turned out to be very happy. So can you explain what what determinism is? Because Sabina, I've talked to everybody. I've talked to Sam Harris. I've talked to you. I've talked to Dan Dennett, the late Dan Dennett, his final podcast. I've talked to Robert Sapolsky. They all say free will doesn't exist. And yet, I say, have you ever met somebody who acts like they believe that they don't have free will? And they all say no. So how can it be that we don't have free will, but everybody acts like we have free will. Well, it all depends on what you mean by free will. So if you watch my video, you'll have noticed that I avoided using the word. This is why I was talking about determinism, because otherwise, people just go, what do you mean by free will? And I was trying to say, it doesn't really matter. Because what I'm talking about
2:17.9	is like, what do we know about the laws of physics? And why is it so hard to make sense of this,
2:23.5	like on a personal level if you know that your brain is made of particles and we know the laws
2:30.1	that those particles are ruled by, right? So where's my place on this?
2:35.5	Now, you said, I seem to be happy about it,
	...

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