Are We Captured by Our Genes or the Rulers of Our Destiny?
We like to think that we are responsible for our decisions, thoughts, and emotions. We aspire to be influential entities that impact the world around us. However, new research reveals that we are more affected by internal and external factors that are not under our control. Today, many neuroscientists and philosophers believe that free will is an illusion.
In his 2012 book Free Will, neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we do not have free will in our choices. He argued that our actions and decisions are determined by causes beyond our control, including our biology and environment. He believed that the absence of free will does not negate moral responsibility and ethical obligations in societies [1].
Robert Sapolsky, also, in his 2023 book Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, discusses that our choices are determined by past experiences, environmental influences, and genetic factors, as supported by neurological evidence. Sapolsky explains that humans do not have free will, and our actions are determined by previous causes, forming a seamless chain of causality that stretches back in time. He presents also a new ethical model to address concerns regarding the consequences of a lack of free will and responsibility. He argues that the lack of free will does not cause anarchy, make life meaningless, or lead to chaos. Instead, it can foster a more compassionate and empathetic society [2].
This wave of determinism is caused by the achievements of modern physics, which indicate that the world operates as a large machine based on a chain of causes and effects. According to the principle of causality, every phenomenon should appear after its cause.
All external factors and previous experiences that unconsciously influence our choices should impact the expression of genes, neural connections, and circuits. According to this model, we........
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