In this episode, Brian talks to David Lawrence. David is the author of "Are We Biochemical Robots?", a deep dive on the question of Free Will.
The question of free will has puzzled philosophers, theologians, and scientist for all of recorded human history. Today, there are a number of prominent thinkers, including the philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris, who believe that Free Will is an illusion. They believe that everything we do is already determined, the so-called "deterministic" viewpoint.
David thinks the arguments against Free Will do not hold up under scrutiny, and in particular, that determinism is scientifically invalid.
In the podcast, David and Brian talk about the nature of the Free Will question, determinism, reductionist scientific thinking and why reductionism and determinism fail on their own terms, the evolution of physics from Newtonian physics to General Relativity to Quantum Mechanics, the problem
s with causation and randomness, the nature of consciousness, and more.
And now I give you, David Lawrence.
