{"id":129260,"date":"2024-08-22T16:09:56","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T20:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=129260"},"modified":"2026-01-22T14:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T18:23:08","slug":"no-free-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/no-free-will\/","title":{"rendered":"What if There’s No Free Will? 3 Implications if It’s True"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What would life be like there’s no free will<\/a>? How would society function if we accepted that our actions are predetermined?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book Determined<\/em>, Robert Sapolsky explores the concept of life without free will and its implications for society. He argues that embracing determinism could lead to a fairer and kinder world, despite the challenges it presents to our traditional notions of praise, reward, blame, and personal responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to learn Sapolsky’s perspective on human behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Implications of Life With No Free Will<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are enormous psychological and societal implications to life if there’s no free will, but Sapolsky argues that embracing determinism would be largely positive for society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll begin by explaining what it would be like to live in a world where people aren\u2019t praised or rewarded for their achievements (because those achievements weren\u2019t the result of their decisions). Next, we\u2019ll examine the implications of a world where people aren\u2019t blamed or punished for their actions. Finally, we\u2019ll discuss why Sapolsky believes that such a world would be fairer and kinder than our current individualistic society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implication #1: No Praise or Rewards<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If free will doesn\u2019t exist, then by definition people aren\u2019t responsible for their own actions. Sapolsky says that, if we follow that line of thought to its conclusion, it suggests that people shouldn\u2019t be praised or rewarded for the things they accomplish. However, he also recognizes that this goes against human nature in several crucial ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) It goes against our natural drive to compete. <\/strong>This doesn\u2019t just mean our drive to prove that we\u2019re better than our peers, but also our ancient drive to compete for resources. Why do anything if we won\u2019t be rewarded for it? For instance, why enter a competition if there\u2019s no trophy to win? Why go to work if we won\u2019t get paid? Again, what\u2019s the point of doing anything?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) It goes against our natural desire for recognition. <\/strong>We want our efforts to be recognized and our accomplishments to be praised. If nobody\u2019s going to be proud of us\u2014including ourselves\u2014then what\u2019s the point of achieving anything?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) It goes against our natural need for control. <\/strong>We like to believe, and centuries\u2019 worth of culture have taught us, that we can take control of our lives through discipline and hard work. Therefore, we naturally resist the idea that we\u2019re not <\/em>in control and never can be. It\u2019s hard to accept that all of our hard work and everything we\u2019ve achieved are just our winnings from some cosmic lottery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Point: The Common Good<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As you\u2019ve just seen, a common concern about a deterministic world is that there seems to be no point to doing anything, since you won\u2019t get recognition or rewards for what you accomplish. In response, Sapolsky offers two reasons why your efforts would still be worthwhile: a selfish motivation<\/a> and a selfless one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a selfish perspective, anything that improves the world<\/a> around you will also make your own life better.<\/strong> For example, working to keep your neighborhood clean would improve your quality of life<\/a>, even if nobody personally thanks you for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a selfless perspective, Sapolsky argues that if you\u2019re concerned about praise and rewards in the first place, then you\u2019re almost certainly coming from a position of relative privilege. This is because people who have to scrabble for basic necessities like food and shelter don\u2019t have the luxury of worrying about such things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the author urges you to improve the world, not for your own benefit, but for the benefit of people who are less fortunate than you.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implication #2: No Blame or Punishment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While many people won\u2019t want to give up on getting rewarded for what they do, Sapolsky says that the opposite side of this issue (giving up on blaming and punishing people for wrongdoing) will also spark fierce resistance. One major reason people will cling to the idea of accountability is that human brains are hardwired to search for answers.<\/strong> This is to say, we naturally want to know why something happened and what we should do about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, we also tend to look for answers that are simple and satisfying. So, when something bad happens, we start asking simple questions: who\u2019s to blame (why it happened) and how we should punish them (what we\u2019re going to do about it). <\/strong>Compounding this issue is the fact that, in many cases, it seems obvious that a person is <\/em>responsible for what happened, and seeing them punished satisfies our sense of justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if your car is stopped at a red light and someone rear-ends you, of course you\u2019re going to want to blame that other driver for the accident and demand that they pay for any damages. Determinism says that the crash was the inevitable result of myriad different factors, and therefore the other driver isn\u2019t responsible. Unfortunately, that answer is both complicated and unsatisfying, so your mind is likely to resist it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With all of this said, Sapolsky gives a partial counterpoint to himself: Rewards and punishments would still make sense to the extent that they can influence people\u2019s behavior.<\/strong> For instance, if you punish a child for breaking something, that child will probably be more careful in the future\u2014it isn\u2019t fair, but it\u2019s effective nonetheless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implication #3: A Kinder, Fairer Society<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Sapolsky argues that\u2014if we accept that free will doesn\u2019t exist and <\/em>we accept the implication that people can\u2019t be held accountable\u2014the rational conclusion is that we must create a more equitable society. <\/strong>This is because determinism eliminates the question of what people \u201cdeserve.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author reasons that, if people\u2019s lives are predetermined, then pure chance is the only difference between the richest person on Earth and a homeless person;<\/strong> it all comes down to who each person happened to be born as. Therefore, the wealthy don\u2019t deserve their success and the poor don\u2019t deserve their hardship, meaning that the inequality in the world today<\/a> is monstrously unjust. Accepting that people aren\u2019t responsible for their own situations also means accepting that we should correct this imbalance as much as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counterpoint: Determinism\u2019s Social Implications Are Open to Interpretation<\/strong>

Sapolsky\u2019s argument for equality is one way to apply deterministic principles to society, but one could also draw some less idealistic conclusions. One possible argument is that determinism logically leads to Social Darwinism<\/a>: a sociological theory stating that the \u201cfittest\u201d people and cultures will naturally thrive, while \u201cweaker\u201d people and cultures are doomed to poverty, oppression, or extinction.

Someone who follows Social Darwinism or similar theories could argue that it\u2019s predetermined <\/em>for the strongest, smartest, and most motivated people to become rich, while those who are less fit for society get outcompeted. Furthermore, a Social Darwinist would argue that this is a good thing, because it ensures that the \u201cbest\u201d people survive to pass on their genes and ideologies, thereby strengthening the human race as a whole.

Although Social Darwinism largely fell out of favor after World War II<\/a>\u2014both because it\u2019s scientifically unsound and because it played a major role in justifying Nazi Germany\u2019s eugenics programs\u2014echoes of it persist<\/a> in racist discourse and free-market ideology (\u201cstrong\u201d businesses must be allowed to succeed while \u201cweak\u201d businesses fail). <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why Determinism Demands Kindness and Understanding<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Sapolsky points out that determinism has major implications for how we treat each other on a personal level, not just a societal one. It means accepting that even people who seem detestable don\u2019t deserve to be treated badly,<\/strong> and we should therefore meet everyone with as much kindness and understanding as we can muster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Extending kindness and understanding toward people we despise is difficult, and it often feels wrong\u2014almost by definition, we don\u2019t want <\/em>to be kind to the people we hate. In Radical Acceptance<\/em><\/a>, psychologist Tara Brach says that we can start overcoming that obstacle through t<\/a>he Buddhist practice of metta <\/em>(lovingkindness)<\/a>. Brach explains that this meditative process begins with yourself: reflecting on your goodness and wishing for personal peace and happiness. Your well wishes then expand to include loved ones, then other people you\u2019re close to, then acquaintances, and finally strangers; eventually, you\u2019ll feel love and compassion<\/a> for the whole world, even for people who used to stir feelings of anger and disgust.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, we\u2019d have to recognize that abusive spouses aren\u2019t at fault for the conditioning or psychological disorders that lead them to believe their actions are acceptable. However, understanding that people aren\u2019t in control of their actions doesn\u2019t mean letting them go unchecked\u2014anyone who\u2019s a danger to others would need to be arrested and rehabilitated to protect the common good. However, accepting determinism does mean letting go of satisfying urges like hatred and the desire to see \u201cbad\u201d people suffer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sapolsky points out that this goal may not be as impossible as it seems. Civilization has already made large strides toward humane treatment for criminals and outcasts.<\/strong> For instance, public torture and execution are no longer accepted forms of punishment in most cultures, and people are generally still satisfied as long as they know that criminals are going to prison. Therefore, it\u2019s reasonable to think that the public can also adjust to the idea of \u201cbad\u201d people going to places that can help them instead of punishing them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Psychologists often describe anger as a secondary emotion<\/em>, meaning that it arises in response to other feelings, one of which is fear<\/a>. This helps to explain why people throughout history have learned to be satisfied with less severe, less public punishments for criminals\u2014as long as the people feel safe, they can generally move past their anger and their urge to watch criminals suffer. It logically follows that as long as the general public feels like they\u2019re being protected from dangerous people<\/a>, most of them (though certainly not all) can overcome the need to know that criminals are being punished. Therefore, broadly speaking, people can learn to accept a system that focuses on rehabilitation instead of punishment.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion: Act \u201cAs If\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sapolsky concludes by saying that, while all available evidence suggests people\u2019s actions are predetermined, it\u2019s impossible to know for sure. However, he argues that it would be best<\/a> for people to assume that free will doesn\u2019t exist<\/strong>. This is not only because there\u2019s no evidence for the existence of free will, but also because of all the ways that such a worldview would improve society<\/a>, as we discussed before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: After spending an entire book arguing in favor of strict determinism, it might seem strange for Sapolsky to now admit that his theory could be wrong. However, as physicist David Deutsch explains in The Beginning of Infinity<\/em><\/a>, a crucial part of scientific advancement is recognizing that even very strongly supported theories could still be proven wrong<\/a>. Ideas that laypeople generally accept as scientific \u201cfacts\u201d\u2014evolution, for example\u2014are really just theories that people have consistently failed to disprove<\/em>. Scientists must therefore keep open minds, because it\u2019s always possible that something we\u2019ve believed to be true for centuries could be overturned by some piece of evidence that theory can\u2019t explain.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sapolsky adds that this puts him in a similar position to many philosophers throughout history; they, like him, usually ended up admitting that it\u2019s impossible to prove whether or not people have free will. However, unlike him, most of those philosophers believed it would be better for people\u2019s mental and emotional health<\/a> to assume that free will exists, so they concluded that it\u2019s rational to keep believing in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the human race has spent millennia believing in free will without any proof, Sapolsky argues, then we don\u2019t need conclusive proof to overturn that belief, especially when doing so would have so many benefits.<\/strong> Therefore\u2014even if the evidence and logic he\u2019s presented throughout Determined <\/em>haven’t fully convinced you\u2014he urges you to act as if<\/a> the absence of free will is a proven fact and adjust your worldview<\/a> accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Having presented all the evidence and logical arguments he has to support his theory of hard determinism, Sapolsky\u2019s final point now reverses the burden of proof<\/a>. Sapolsky, having claimed that free will doesn\u2019t exist, would be expected to bring extraordinary evidence to back up that claim (as he\u2019s done throughout Determined<\/em>). However, now he\u2019s arguing that the idea of free will itself lacks evidence, and therefore the burden of proof shouldn\u2019t fall entirely on him. In short, this could also be read as Sapolsky implying that, while he can\u2019t completely prove his position, he\u2019s at least done a better job than his opponents have done proving the existence of free will.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exercise: Think About Determinism and Its Implications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Imagine for a moment that you\u2019ve fully accepted Sapolsky\u2019s theories; you firmly believe that everything is predetermined and people have no free will. What\u2019s one way that your behavior would change? In other words, what\u2019s one way you could act \u201das if\u201d determinism is a proven fact? For example, perhaps you\u2019d find yourself acting a little more kindly toward someone you dislike, such as an annoying coworker or someone with different political beliefs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What would life be like there’s no free will? How would society function if we accepted that our actions are predetermined? In his book Determined, Robert Sapolsky explores the concept of life without free will and its implications for society. He argues that embracing determinism could lead to a fairer and kinder world, despite the challenges it presents to our traditional notions of praise, reward, blame, and personal responsibility. Read on to learn Sapolsky’s perspective on human behavior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":129281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,9,24],"tags":[1577],"class_list":["post-129260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy","category-psychology","category-society","tag-determined","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat if There's No Free Will? 3 Implications if It's True - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Sapolsky explores what life would be like if there's no free will. 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