You and Betty and the nancy's and Bill's and Joes and Jane's will find in the study of science a richer, more rewarding life.

Hey, I'm Andrew Viscontas, and this is Inquiring Minds.

This is a podcast that explores the space where science and society collide.

We want to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why

it all matters. You might have heard neuroscientists talk about free will and how, well,

the neuroscience shows that it doesn't exist. I've been

really reluctant to talk about this topic or to really delve in it more deeply on this podcast

because I feel that the implications of their not being free will are pretty dire for our society

and that the last thing our society

needs is science justifying bad behavior. But I couldn't resist the opportunity to read Robert

Sapolsky's new book, Determined. Everything I've read from Robert Sapolsky has essentially

changed the way I think about whatever it is that he's writing about.

And this was an opportunity for me to test whether this ultimate conversation about free will could end up in a direction that, well, was more hopeful than hopeless.

If you don't know, Robert Zipolsky, he's been on our show

before, when he wrote Behave, which was a New York Times best-selling book. He spent decades

studying the social behavior of baboons and also decades studying how stress impacts the brain

at Stanford. He's a professor of biology and neuroscience and neurosurgery.

He's a former MacArthur genius and just all-round, really interesting guy.

Robert Sapolsky, welcome back to inquiring minds.

Well, thanks for having me back.

So I have to say that talking about free will is one of the subjects that makes me the most uncomfortable.

And I think it is a testament to how much I respect you and how many times you've not only

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