The release of Determined, a new book by renowned Stanford professor of primate behavior and neuroscience Robert M. Sapolsky, has catapulted him into the middle of an ancient debate: whether humans ...

Robert Sapolsky, a 66-year-old Stanford neurobiologist, has a controversial view on the nature of human existence: he doesn’t think “free will” exists. At all. A MacArthur “genius” grant recipient at ...

After studying humans and other primates for 40 years, Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky has concluded that many factors beyond our control influence our choices and behaviors, leaving free will ...

Writing a review is an exercise in free will. Not only can I tell you what I want about the book and whether I liked it or not, but I also get to choose how to begin. If I decide to start with a ...

To the editor: Neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky has two theses. The first is that if one does not posit a supernatural human soul that thinks and causes actions independently of brain function, then the ...

Finally, a scientist who studies human behavior has said the quiet part out loud: The idea that people have free will is a myth. In his new book, “Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will,” ...

A review of Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. By Robert M. Sapolsky. Penguin Press. 528 pp. $32. Free will, Robert Sapolsky (professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, ...

Shedding the concept “completely strikes at our sense of identity and autonomy,” the Stanford biologist and neuroscientist argues. It might also be liberating. Robert Sapolsky, biologist and ...

The ages-long debate about free will has a new champion in Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky and surprising new connections to our politics, writes Ryan Sanders. Michael Hogue You didn’t choose to ...

The takeaway of Robert Sapolsky’s Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will is basically the same as that espoused by those Snickers commercials: You’re not you when you’re hungry. Except ...

If we don’t have free will, we’ve built our society on a powerful myth. At home and work, in school, and when spending time with friends, people get rewarded and punished for their choices. In the ...