In the series of lectures called Being Human by Robert Sapolsky; there was one section which went way over my head!
Not that everything else what he said made sense! But this one was particularly complicated!
It still is!
The statement was this ‘Currently, the most exciting realm of biology is the notion that behavior is determined by genetics’.
So far so good! Then Robert introduces this word and it becomes complicated!
This is the heart of Western science’s focus on reductionism, the notion that to understand a complex system, you need to understand its component parts!
Robert Sapolsky argues that classical reductionism fundamentally fails to explain complex biological systems and human behavior.
Now first look at Sapolsky’s Definition of Classical Reductionism!
Sapolsky defines classical reductionism as the philosophy that if you want to understand a complex system, you break it down into its component parts.
In a purely reductionist framework we can assume that the parts can simply be added back together linearly to understand the macro-system!
Robert now tries to tell how or why Reductionism Fails in Biology!
Sapolsky uses the analogy that biological systems are “clouds, not clocks.” You can fix a broken clock by examining its individual gears. You cannot fix or predict a cloud by isolating individual water molecules.
Here you have two primary disruptors of reductionism!
The first is the role of Chance wherein non-linear biological systems are heavily influenced by random events at micro-levels. For example, the unequal distribution of mitochondria during the very first cell division of identical twins creates biological divergence that a reductionist blueprint could never predict!
Another is the social complexity which is with respect to behavioral biology, we know that studying individuals in isolation fails to predict how they will behave in a larger group. Group dynamics create unpredictable social hierarchies that defy linear summation!
Sapolsky uses a multi-disciplinary approach to build a strictly deterministic argument against free will! He argues that human behavior is entirely shaped by an unbroken chain of biological and environmental factors—ranging from neurochemistry seconds before an action, to hormone levels days prior, to evolutionary pressures millennia ago.
So reductionism will not work for biology and there is no such thing as FREE WILL!
Then again if you have a good taste in music then your will enjoy Ilaiyaraaja’s songs with your complete free will!
Now try to understand the blog and sleep!
Shubh ratri…
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