causal

Emergence Does Not Make Constituent Parts Freer

Emergent complexity (ants forming colonies, neurons producing consciousness) is real, but every argument deriving free will from emergence smuggles in a false downward causation: it requires the simple building blocks to become 'fancier' or 'freer,' when the whole point of emergence is that the constituent parts remain just as simple and rule-bound as before.

causalpending

Speaker

Robert Sapolsky

Evidence Quote

every model that somehow pulls free will out of emergence requires that the building blocks the constituent parts have suddenly gotten fancier and they don't and that's the whole point of it

Source

360 - We Really Don T Have Free WillMaking Sense with Sam Harris
Created: 6/14/2026, 2:19:39 AM

My Notes

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