WEBVTT 00:00:27.669 --> 00:00:32.399 So there's a view. that you might share that 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:36.340 the physical world is determined. What I mean 00:00:36.340 --> 00:00:39.859 by that is that the physical world is dictated 00:00:39.859 --> 00:00:43.079 by certain fundamental laws of physics, such 00:00:43.079 --> 00:00:46.119 that the previous state of the world plus these 00:00:46.119 --> 00:00:49.320 laws of physics guarantee the next state of the 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:52.090 universe. If you study Newtonian physics, you 00:00:52.090 --> 00:00:53.869 know exactly what this worldview looks like. 00:00:54.350 --> 00:00:57.570 So take the initial conditions, the initial state 00:00:57.570 --> 00:00:59.590 of the universe, or the way that the universe 00:00:59.590 --> 00:01:03.909 is right now, and then follow these laws of physics, 00:01:03.969 --> 00:01:05.510 and you should know exactly what will happen 00:01:05.510 --> 00:01:08.349 next. If a billiard ball, let's say a billiard 00:01:08.349 --> 00:01:11.090 ball A, is traveling towards another billiard 00:01:11.090 --> 00:01:14.250 ball, let's call it billiard ball B. In a vacuum 00:01:14.250 --> 00:01:18.969 at a specific velocity v with a mass of m, then 00:01:18.969 --> 00:01:22.530 when billiard ball A hits billiard ball B, ball 00:01:22.530 --> 00:01:25.069 B with its given mass will then move at such 00:01:25.069 --> 00:01:26.810 and such a velocity, right? And you could use 00:01:26.810 --> 00:01:30.650 these Newtonian laws to calculate exactly what 00:01:30.650 --> 00:01:32.930 the velocity will be based off of the mass and 00:01:32.930 --> 00:01:35.310 based off of all the other information given, 00:01:35.370 --> 00:01:38.700 right? Okay. The only issue with knowing what 00:01:38.700 --> 00:01:41.719 comes next for us humans is that we just lack 00:01:41.719 --> 00:01:44.099 knowledge of all the initial conditions of the 00:01:44.099 --> 00:01:46.739 world, and we currently don't have everything 00:01:46.739 --> 00:01:49.200 there is to know about the laws of physics. We're 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:52.099 still uncovering and trying to make sense of 00:01:52.099 --> 00:01:55.079 some of these laws that seem to be governing 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:59.420 the universe. But once we know both, we can have... 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:01.579 what might be like a God's perspective, right? 00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:04.200 We can then predict with 100 % accuracy what 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:07.019 will happen next, and after that, and after that, 00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:11.560 until the end of time, right? Let's set aside 00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:13.240 some of the wrinkles that quantum physics may 00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:15.680 throw in. I don't know if they actually do, but 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:17.400 let's just assume for the sake of argument that 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:19.659 the world is determined in the way that I just 00:02:19.659 --> 00:02:23.580 described, right? If it's true, right, which 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:26.360 a lot of people tend to work under similar sorts 00:02:26.360 --> 00:02:28.610 of assumptions about. the way the world operates, 00:02:28.729 --> 00:02:32.669 right? If true, then we as physical beings are 00:02:32.669 --> 00:02:34.810 then subject to these laws of physics, right? 00:02:34.930 --> 00:02:36.849 And this shouldn't be much of a surprise, right? 00:02:37.090 --> 00:02:41.090 If you think about, you know, just your physical 00:02:41.090 --> 00:02:43.669 health, right? If you're exposed to a virus, 00:02:43.729 --> 00:02:47.449 there's a chain reaction that leads to your sneezing 00:02:47.449 --> 00:02:50.490 and coughing and having a fever. We don't think 00:02:50.490 --> 00:02:53.050 it just like magically occurs or by chance, right? 00:02:53.129 --> 00:02:55.250 It's because we believe that the laws of physics 00:02:55.250 --> 00:02:58.539 apply to us as well. which is also why we take 00:02:58.539 --> 00:03:01.039 medication, right? These medicines have been 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:03.879 developed in order to help us alleviate certain 00:03:03.879 --> 00:03:06.580 symptoms or illness or kill bacterial infection 00:03:06.580 --> 00:03:09.219 that might be harming us, and we know that it'll 00:03:09.219 --> 00:03:12.599 work to a certain degree because we know that 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:15.419 doing X will lead to Y, which will lead to Z, 00:03:15.539 --> 00:03:20.219 right? It's also why, you know... You know that 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:22.080 if I kick you in the chest within the force, 00:03:22.139 --> 00:03:24.840 you're going to fly off in some kung fu movie 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:29.069 sort of way, right? We are physical beings. And 00:03:29.069 --> 00:03:32.129 so hence, it makes sense that we are bound by 00:03:32.129 --> 00:03:34.610 the laws of physics. This is actually the very 00:03:34.610 --> 00:03:37.870 reason that you probably will not jump off a 00:03:37.870 --> 00:03:40.949 rooftop to see if you'll fly, because you know 00:03:40.949 --> 00:03:43.689 that based off of your understanding of gravity 00:03:43.689 --> 00:03:46.250 works, you're definitely going to fall. And given 00:03:46.250 --> 00:03:48.310 what else you know, you probably are going to 00:03:48.310 --> 00:03:49.949 hit the ground and you're going to get seriously 00:03:49.949 --> 00:03:52.349 injured, right? What does this have to do with 00:03:52.349 --> 00:03:54.409 anything? Well, let me connect the dots for you, 00:03:54.430 --> 00:03:57.150 right? You and I are bound by the laws of physics. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:00.400 And if these laws are deterministic in the way 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:04.259 that I have described, then you and I are not 00:04:04.259 --> 00:04:08.199 any different than the billiard balls, right? 00:04:08.300 --> 00:04:11.199 Everything about us, from our genetics to our 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:15.340 environment to the impact that the world has 00:04:15.340 --> 00:04:17.139 on our thoughts and behaviors and the way it 00:04:17.139 --> 00:04:20.379 shapes us and the way we, you know, develop both 00:04:20.379 --> 00:04:23.800 physically, mentally, all these things, our personalities, 00:04:23.939 --> 00:04:27.720 tendencies, right? All of this. is determined. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:33.019 And that seems even more likely the more that 00:04:33.019 --> 00:04:37.040 we uncover some truth about the human psyche 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:41.019 through things like neuroscience. What we find 00:04:41.019 --> 00:04:44.899 is that there are certain processes in the brain 00:04:44.899 --> 00:04:47.600 and in our body that send certain messages that 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:50.300 result in the things that we might have attributed 00:04:50.300 --> 00:04:53.180 to something else now being attributed to just 00:04:53.180 --> 00:04:56.860 simply laws of physics, including... Things like 00:04:56.860 --> 00:05:01.180 our emotions, right? Our emotions are nothing 00:05:01.180 --> 00:05:05.180 more than a set of certain neurological chemistry 00:05:05.180 --> 00:05:08.899 and physiological response to certain types of 00:05:08.899 --> 00:05:12.459 stimuli. It is the kind of response might be 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:15.079 based in part on genetics, but also might be 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:18.560 from life experience that has kind of habituated 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:23.360 us to respond in a certain way, okay? What's 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:26.300 odd here is that when it comes to holding someone 00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:31.300 morally responsible, we seem to view people in 00:05:31.300 --> 00:05:34.120 a very different way. We seem to assume that 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:37.360 our actions, at least when we're not under the 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:39.540 influence of certain substances or suffering 00:05:39.540 --> 00:05:43.060 from some debilitating disease or disorder, that 00:05:43.060 --> 00:05:46.740 we're actually acting on some sort of rational 00:05:46.740 --> 00:05:50.060 capacity, something that is up to us, right? 00:05:50.730 --> 00:05:54.509 But the question arises, right, how is it possible 00:05:54.509 --> 00:05:58.730 that, you know, we're being held responsible 00:05:58.730 --> 00:06:02.230 for something that we're presuming is up to us 00:06:02.230 --> 00:06:07.329 if we ourselves are nothing more than a mere 00:06:07.329 --> 00:06:10.629 extension of repeated applications of the laws 00:06:10.629 --> 00:06:14.290 of physics, right? And it becomes even more puzzling 00:06:14.290 --> 00:06:16.170 when we think in the following way, right? Like, 00:06:16.189 --> 00:06:20.040 look, we would not hold— billiard balls for the 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:23.259 kind of behavior that they engage in because 00:06:23.259 --> 00:06:25.519 we don't think it's up to them, right? Like the 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:29.019 balls move in the way that they do because of 00:06:29.019 --> 00:06:31.439 the forces that are applied to them, right? So 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:35.060 like, look, if the ball is moving around and 00:06:35.060 --> 00:06:37.120 I get smacked with one of the balls and it hurts, 00:06:37.220 --> 00:06:38.980 right? I don't start yelling at the ball and 00:06:38.980 --> 00:06:41.060 saying like the ball did something wrong and 00:06:41.060 --> 00:06:43.199 there's an injustice and now I'm going to sue 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.060 the ball for the harm it caused, right? That 00:06:45.060 --> 00:06:47.199 makes no sense. But we do it with other people. 00:06:47.969 --> 00:06:50.629 We do it with other people. We don't treat other 00:06:50.629 --> 00:06:54.649 people, at least in certain cases, right, in 00:06:54.649 --> 00:06:57.370 the way that they behave. When we attribute it 00:06:57.370 --> 00:07:00.389 to being up to them, we don't treat them in this 00:07:00.389 --> 00:07:03.490 way that we do billiard balls or other objects, 00:07:03.790 --> 00:07:08.360 right? Rather, we treat them as if they are the 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:12.259 internal, what do we call it, the initial cause, 00:07:12.500 --> 00:07:15.579 the motivator, the one that made it happen. We 00:07:15.579 --> 00:07:18.160 treat other people in this way, and that's the 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:21.040 very reason that we hold each other responsible 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:24.199 for things. That's why we sue each other. That's 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:28.879 why we get angry and frustrated, and we blame 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:31.459 other people. It's because we think that others... 00:07:32.009 --> 00:07:36.509 are not just simply extensions of these repeated 00:07:36.509 --> 00:07:39.569 applications of the laws of physics, right? So 00:07:39.569 --> 00:07:41.629 we are then faced with attention, right? Attention, 00:07:41.689 --> 00:07:46.069 I think, we face regularly, right? We see other 00:07:46.069 --> 00:07:48.769 people, either ourselves or others, as free, 00:07:48.870 --> 00:07:52.610 as reasoning, deliberating agents that make decisions 00:07:52.610 --> 00:07:56.449 about what to do. Hence, because they are these 00:07:56.449 --> 00:07:59.920 free... you know, agents, right? We can hold 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:02.639 each other responsible morally, legally, or otherwise, 00:08:02.779 --> 00:08:06.160 right? Yet, we also see people as nothing more 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:09.740 than a product of, you know, biology and the 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:14.000 environment, laws of physics, right? Hence, they 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.240 make the decisions that they do because they 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:18.240 were molded into the kind of people that they 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:20.949 are. All right. This happens a lot when we, you 00:08:20.949 --> 00:08:23.790 know, get to really know a friend, get to know 00:08:23.790 --> 00:08:26.050 a person kind of very intimately, deeply. You 00:08:26.050 --> 00:08:28.009 learn about the history and a lot of things sort 00:08:28.009 --> 00:08:31.449 of start to make sense. Right. You know, this 00:08:31.449 --> 00:08:33.210 is what therapists do for their patients, right? 00:08:33.250 --> 00:08:35.710 Help them connect the dots, right? Oh, yeah, 00:08:35.830 --> 00:08:37.750 it's interesting that you had these sorts of 00:08:37.750 --> 00:08:39.649 experiences seem to have a certain kind of impact 00:08:39.649 --> 00:08:42.730 on you, and it makes sense why you respond in 00:08:42.730 --> 00:08:44.669 the way that you do to certain kinds of situations, 00:08:44.950 --> 00:08:47.330 right? The reason that you have certain phobias 00:08:47.330 --> 00:08:49.409 or the reason that you do tend to react very 00:08:49.409 --> 00:08:52.029 strongly to certain kinds of perceived slights 00:08:52.029 --> 00:08:54.470 or whatever else it might be, right? So this 00:08:54.470 --> 00:08:56.909 way of seeing people, it's reflected in how we 00:08:56.909 --> 00:09:01.960 make sense of... you know, each other, right? 00:09:02.039 --> 00:09:04.039 We tend to try to get to know each other for 00:09:04.039 --> 00:09:06.600 this reason, because we don't think that they 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:09.220 just end up being who they are out of nowhere. 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:11.740 We believe that they are who they are as a product 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:16.220 of some combination of their biology as well 00:09:16.220 --> 00:09:20.519 as their life experiences, okay? But when we 00:09:20.519 --> 00:09:24.559 see others in this way, then it now is very confusing, 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:28.100 right? Because it now seems as if they had no 00:09:28.100 --> 00:09:31.509 control over who they are or the decisions that 00:09:31.509 --> 00:09:35.009 they make, right? It doesn't make any sense at 00:09:35.009 --> 00:09:39.090 all, right? So the point is this, look, we are 00:09:39.090 --> 00:09:41.149 constantly living with this tension and we're 00:09:41.149 --> 00:09:42.970 trying to figure out how it is that we're supposed 00:09:42.970 --> 00:09:48.029 to view people and hold them responsible while 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:50.690 at the same time also seeing them like any other 00:09:50.690 --> 00:09:53.870 physical object in the world. And we're trying 00:09:53.870 --> 00:09:57.159 to... balance these two because it seems like 00:09:57.159 --> 00:10:00.799 going off into one direction too much has certain 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:03.220 consequences that we're not particularly happy 00:10:03.220 --> 00:10:06.580 about, right? For instance, if we went too far 00:10:06.580 --> 00:10:09.100 off into the direction of people don't have any 00:10:09.100 --> 00:10:11.940 control over themselves, they're just a mere 00:10:11.940 --> 00:10:14.080 product of their environment and their genetics 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:17.679 and the laws of physics and the way that billiard 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.759 balls are, then we would have no grounds for 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:23.139 holding anybody responsible. Our entire legal 00:10:23.139 --> 00:10:24.940 system would have to change. It wouldn't be anything 00:10:24.940 --> 00:10:28.120 about moral or legal responsibility, but rather 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:30.440 it would just be some pragmatic thing about... 00:10:30.809 --> 00:10:33.529 We don't want billiard balls flying in our face 00:10:33.529 --> 00:10:35.350 in the same way we don't want people's fists 00:10:35.350 --> 00:10:38.049 flying in our face. So as a pragmatic concern 00:10:38.049 --> 00:10:42.710 about things that people generally do not want, 00:10:42.789 --> 00:10:46.009 in order to fulfill the majority of people's 00:10:46.009 --> 00:10:48.129 desires, we're going to have to set laws that 00:10:48.129 --> 00:10:50.970 restrict people and have rules for how people 00:10:50.970 --> 00:10:52.250 are going to be punished. But these are pragmatic 00:10:52.250 --> 00:10:54.269 concerns. It's not because anybody did anything 00:10:54.269 --> 00:10:57.409 wrong. We would have to get rid of that notion 00:10:57.409 --> 00:10:59.889 that people are doing anything that anything 00:10:59.889 --> 00:11:02.700 is wrong. wrong, anything that they are, can 00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:05.320 be held responsible for in any way, right? Any 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:07.740 sort of punishment, any sort of legal justification 00:11:07.740 --> 00:11:10.100 for, you know, incarcerating people would have 00:11:10.100 --> 00:11:12.159 to strictly be on the grounds of some pragmatic 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:14.960 concern about, you know, I don't know, general 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:17.440 preference of the way that we want to structure 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:19.639 our world, the way that, just the same way that 00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:22.320 I want a building to look or, you know, serve 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:25.580 a certain function or purpose, I want now the 00:11:25.580 --> 00:11:29.120 laws to serve certain functions. Nothing more. 00:11:31.849 --> 00:11:34.929 So we might not be too happy going in that direction, 00:11:35.009 --> 00:11:37.509 but we also might not be too happy going in the 00:11:37.509 --> 00:11:40.190 other direction and saying that people are just 00:11:40.190 --> 00:11:45.309 free, rational entities that should be held responsible 00:11:45.309 --> 00:11:48.169 for any decisions that they make. Because the 00:11:48.169 --> 00:11:53.570 reality is that we do tend to account when we're 00:11:53.570 --> 00:11:56.799 evaluating or judging other people. we tend to 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:00.779 account for the fact that some people have sometimes 00:12:00.779 --> 00:12:04.620 just been dealt a bad hand. And as a result, 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:08.679 it wasn't really their fault that they tend to 00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:11.500 be the way that they are. We call these mitigating 00:12:11.500 --> 00:12:15.039 circumstances. Like, look, if a child has been 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:19.539 abused incessantly since... you know, infancy, 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:21.620 right? And as a result, suffer from certain brain 00:12:21.620 --> 00:12:24.460 damages. And as a result, they tend to behave 00:12:24.460 --> 00:12:27.639 in certain ways that potentially harm other people, 00:12:27.659 --> 00:12:29.659 right? Like, we tend to be a lot more understanding 00:12:29.659 --> 00:12:32.179 of that person than somebody who has had every 00:12:32.179 --> 00:12:36.100 opportunity in the world to not be somebody that 00:12:36.100 --> 00:12:38.679 other people absolutely hate, right? Or engage 00:12:38.679 --> 00:12:41.320 in what we might call, you know, antisocial behavior. 00:12:42.139 --> 00:12:46.139 And so we hold these two people along different 00:12:46.139 --> 00:12:49.340 standards for a reason, right? Because the history, 00:12:49.419 --> 00:12:51.279 to some degree, maybe it doesn't account for 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:53.820 all of it, but it does seem to matter to some 00:12:53.820 --> 00:12:57.559 degree. We empathize with the people who have 00:12:57.559 --> 00:13:00.000 struggled in their lives and have not been given 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:03.779 an opportunity to make their lives the best that 00:13:03.779 --> 00:13:07.220 they could. to be the best version of themselves. 00:13:07.659 --> 00:13:09.379 We tend to empathize with those people a lot 00:13:09.379 --> 00:13:11.639 more than somebody who has had those opportunities, 00:13:11.860 --> 00:13:14.279 right? We tend to account for the environment 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:19.059 and for the genetics and for whatever else might 00:13:19.059 --> 00:13:21.159 have shaped the person into the kind of person 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:27.059 that they are. So what am I saying here, right? 00:13:27.139 --> 00:13:28.980 What I'm trying to say is the following, right? 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:33.039 You probably already hold the position. You probably 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:35.940 lean more in one direction or the other already. 00:13:36.419 --> 00:13:39.299 And you can actually look to your own judgment 00:13:39.299 --> 00:13:43.259 of, you know, other people and in the way that 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:46.320 you engage with the world generally, including 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:49.700 non -human, you know, inanimate objects, animals, 00:13:49.779 --> 00:13:52.799 and so on. You probably have some sort of position 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:56.379 on this already that is actually informing your 00:13:56.379 --> 00:14:00.120 views. But if we don't talk about it out loud 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:02.940 and we don't come to at least some points of 00:14:02.940 --> 00:14:06.379 agreement on this matter, you might find that 00:14:06.379 --> 00:14:11.639 the disagreement in the worldview might be what's 00:14:11.639 --> 00:14:14.779 shaping the different ways we approach things 00:14:14.779 --> 00:14:18.539 like legal policies, the way that we approach 00:14:18.539 --> 00:14:21.720 social services, and how much we think that it's 00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:24.769 the responsibility of the community to... provide 00:14:24.769 --> 00:14:28.429 for certain basic goods as opposed to it being 00:14:28.429 --> 00:14:30.970 an individual responsibility right like these 00:14:30.970 --> 00:14:34.809 questions a lot of them i find from my conversations 00:14:34.809 --> 00:14:38.570 with others comes down to some sort of disagreement 00:14:38.570 --> 00:14:42.009 in where you are in this spectrum of leaning 00:14:42.009 --> 00:14:45.950 more towards humans just being nothing more than 00:14:45.950 --> 00:14:48.850 you know determined entities physical entities 00:14:48.850 --> 00:14:52.559 just like anything else or You know, how much 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:55.019 weight you give to the idea that people should 00:14:55.019 --> 00:14:58.759 be treated and held responsible as free, rational 00:14:58.759 --> 00:15:03.620 agents. And most people will probably be somewhere 00:15:03.620 --> 00:15:06.639 in the middle, again, leaning more in one direction 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:09.419 or another. But the fact that that sort of framework 00:15:09.419 --> 00:15:11.759 is working in the background and is the source 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:13.820 of so much of our disagreement tells me that 00:15:13.820 --> 00:15:16.259 it will be important for us to actually talk 00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:19.320 about it out loud. to see exactly where the points 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:22.600 of disagreements are and to, you know, share 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:27.279 reasons for one or the other to come to at least 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:31.779 something closer to a consensus, at least as 00:15:31.779 --> 00:15:35.639 far as we might know, you know, something that 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:40.500 will maybe suffice to bring about a kind of a 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:44.600 world or a way of navigating the world that we 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:49.409 can at least more or less agree to. So I hope 00:15:49.409 --> 00:15:52.230 that this gives you at least some reason for 00:15:52.230 --> 00:15:54.730 thinking that even though we might not be able 00:15:54.730 --> 00:15:56.830 to settle this question, it at least would be 00:15:56.830 --> 00:16:00.210 important for us to have this conversation much 00:16:00.210 --> 00:16:03.870 more openly and much more explicitly than we 00:16:03.870 --> 00:16:05.830 might be doing today.