The speaker explains that the notion of free will emerging from complexity theory is intriguing rather than disheartening. They believe that emerging complexity is fascinating as seen in the collective behavior of ants or neurons, where individual components do not exhibit certain properties that emerge at a higher level. Hence, the speaker finds it reasonable to consider free will as an emergent property, providing a fresh perspective on the relationship between free will and complexity theory.
Sam Harris speaks with Robert Sapolsky about the widespread belief in free will. They discuss the limits of intuition, the views of Dan Dennett, complexity and emergence, downward causation, abstraction, epigenetics, predictability, fatalism, Benjamin Libet, the primacy of luck, historical change in attitudes about free will, implications for ethics and criminal justice, the psychological satisfaction of punishing bad people, understanding evil, punishment and reward as tools, meritocracy, the consequences of physical beauty, the logic of reasoning, and other topics.
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