To your point on right and wrong, the law has nothing to do with right and wrong. It has to do with keeping a functioning society. Morality and the law often coincide because things which harm society we are likely to find morally reprehensible but it isn’t always the case and they aren’t directly connected. As for who gets to decide what rules society needs to function, depends on your country. In Iran it’s the Ayatollah in the Us ostensibly it’s the will of the majority limited by certain constitutional protections

To go back to the machine analogy, a computer has code and rules that it needs to function. There’s no morality to those rules. A society which allows murder wouldn’t survive regardless of your opinion on murder morally so it needs to be illegal. Enforcing your morality through law is exactly what liberal democracy was designed to prevent

Alex, please think logically, when you get rid of the belief in free will or the illusion of it, that also deletes the concept of blame praise punishment award ego resentment superiority inferiority etc. On a fundamental level people will no longer hate one another. “Be kind” is no longer a bumper sticker or tshirt logo, it is the only option for anyone to feel and be. Morality and understanding of one another goes up. Yes perhaps it’ll take many generations and growing pains to get there but once we do as a humanity life will be immensely better for all. We need to teach our children the truth about humanity and who/what we are as a species.
Also, please don’t say this is  just a 14 year olds thoughts. He’s been researching it for 4 decades. Please don’t put miss information out there bc the information Robert Sapolsky, Sam Harris, Gregg Caruso, Nick Vale and many more of the like are putting out there is humanity shifting in the best way possible.

I’m writing this as I watch so editing: yes we are just meat sacks, some more lucky than others. The best we can hope for is have a good experience at life, and to create a better future for the humans that come after us. Your criticism of Sapolsky’s research and claims is doing the exact opposite of creating a better future for our children and children’s children, albeit i don’t think this is your intention.

You are interpreting the fairy dust portion wrong, and took it out of context bc you didn’t play the rest. He’s saying anyone who succeeds whether they work hard or not are still a product of biology environment and randomness non of which are in their control. Yes a basketball player works hard and makes it and another one doesn’t and doesn’t make it. Figure they’re both the same height. What made one work hard and the other not? biology (what he was born with, brain chemistry), environment (how he grew up, so many factors, example supportive parents), randomness (example: happened to have a great coach in high school) - none of these things are in the basketball players control, he lucked out while the other one did not. There’s no fairy dust to influence or give him the free will to act differently than he did. The successful players ego and the unsuccessful players feelings of inferiority are unwarranted. Yes obviously the successful NBA player wouldn’t like this argument bc of ego. Our world runs on toxic unwarranted ego and creates anger and resentment. Plenty of people cannot escape their unfortunate biology and environment and feel sad resentful over it. It’s not their fault they were raised or had bad genetics or so many other “unlucky” circumstances. One can consider themselves lucky but leave the ego behind. Or, one can consider themselves unlucky and leave the sadness behind. Only once we recognize that we are fundamentally all equal will we all thrive as a human race.

Him saying he can only carry it out 1% of the time has no relevance. He’s not disagreeing with what he knows, he’s just being truthful bc we are still living in today’s world and context. But nevertheless he does plenty of work educating us in hopes of shifting the way we raise and teach our kids so all can have a better future free of blame praise judgement punishment award ego resentment superiority inferiority and all other things creating anxiety and difficulties for so many. We are equal just some more lucky than others. Once we understand this we will strive to do good by our fellow human without needing the ego boost or praise we are so used to today.

Sapolsky is a humble genius. For you to call him a wolf in sheep’s clothing is outrageous. I’m sad to say you are the sheep in wolfs clothing for saying something so awful but, alas, it’s not your fault, you also are a product of biology environment and randomness. Yes the domino of humanity is determined, but we can still spread correct knowledge to make life better for all.

I think you did a good job with the critique. Here's a digression that might seem irrelevant to the video. At the place where I work I asked several people (physicians included) if they had ever read the book 1984. To my surprise, most had not even heard of the book. Why do I bring this up? Because in my mind the world that Sapolsky is gunning for seems very much a slippery slope into, if not an Orwellian then surely a Huxlian, a bad dystopian novel. One question I would like to ask Robert Sapolsky is why he characterizes the second half of his book as a "feeble attempt."  Could he have done better? If not, then why? Keep up the good work Alex, I know that like 99% of the videos on YouTube are telling everyone they are not free, but keep it up because it's not only refreshing to hear the other side of any argument, but probably also for the likelihood that people are getting their info  increasingly from algorithmic-controlled places like YouTube instead of searching stuff out in books themselves. Also, in looking at what you review on some of your other videos, I can't help but suggest you read "A Confession" by Leo Tolstoy (if you haven't already), I think that might be right up your alley, plus its super short. It's all about Tolstoy's journey from Atheism to Theism.

Many problems with his theory; justification of not only quarantines, but arguably eugenics....

Alex, how much trainiing to you have in Neuroscience? Have you done behavioral research with mammals? What is the basis of your opinions other than.....your opinions?

Willing yourself to fight illness is kind of willing yourself out a depression. I think you don't fully understand the nature of the will. You either have it, or not. Willing something is not a choice, but a state which is really a consequence of many things. You may "chose" to go against your will, but you can't change it, only deny it.
Schopenhauer explained the will much better then any other. I really don't know who Sapolsky is, sounds like your typical modern materialistic thinker. I'm not a fan of these either. In my view, the will is something much deeper, that exist outside the experience, and can't be explained just by experience. The modern day reductionism which is perceived as "genius", explains in practice only absolute simpletons... And yes, you can be very educated and well read, but still a simpleton...