There’s a certain strain of medical thinking that suggests that no matter how much you think you are in control of the actions you take in your life your biology is the one that’s really calling the shots. I find the idea incredibly frustrating because I really really want to have a say in my own free will. Meanwhile the accumulated weight of my genome, neural circuity, epigenetic determinants and other mechanical imponderabilia leave almost no space for our own unique minds.
This week I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Bill Sullivan who wrote a book called Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs and the Curious Forces that Make Us Who We Are. As I made my way though his book last week it seemed that there are so many inputs into the things that make us human that consciousness itself might just be a figment of our collective imaginations. This was a funny thought, of course, because if that was the case then it’s not clear what those imaginations really are.
In this hour long discussion, Bill and I go deep into our genetic history and he offers a slight escape hatch to true genetic determinism by the way of epigenetics.
If you found this conversation enjoyable please share it with a friend!
I’ll be on vacation in the wilderness of Idaho for a few weeks, but don’t you worry, I have another video all ready to go for you next week.
Share this post