#27: Telomeres, Meritocracy, Autism Plasticity | Robert Sapolsky Father-Offspring Interviews

Episode 27 of Father-Offspring Interviews. This episode focuses on telomeres and aging, neural plasticity with autism, and perceiving a world without meritocracy.
NOTE: Captions are now embedded on KZbin, so be sure to activate them in the video settings.
Submit questions for future videos at the following link: ha66meqrpqz.ty...
Be sure to subscribe for the weekly episodes and follow on Instagram @robert.sapolsky for more content.
0:00: Intro
0:10: Question 1 (Telomeres and dogs)
10:15: Question 2 (Autism and Neuroplasticity)
19:47: Question 3 (A world without meritocracy)

[@chuckheppner4384]

“All of life is education and everybody is a teacher and everybody is forever a pupil.” Abraham Maslow

[@l.w.paradis2108]

Thank you.

[@chuckheppner4384]

You're certainly welcome@@l.w.paradis2108 🙏🏻

[@lisalundin3972]

Dr. Sapolsky is a brilliant and gifted educator. I love this series.

[@bryanutility9609]

He’s just making excuses for egalitarianism. His social agenda would be the same no matter the premise.

[@lisalundin3972]

@@bryanutility9609 What does his social agenda have to do with his intellect or ability to teach?

[@bryanutility9609]

@@lisalundin3972 It has everything to do with what he’s selling. Every interview he talks about the “implications” His entire book is about that, not science.

[@Amethyst_Friend]

@@bryanutility9609No excuses are needed for egalitarianism, it's obviously a good idea

[@bryanutility9609]

@@Amethyst_Friend there’s no basis for equality in nature nor any evidence whatsoever.

[@tammyscott9664]

And there you have it…grateful rather than proud. Now it makes sense!

[@poi4ever121]

I was born to appreciate Dr. Sapolsky. Wow.

[@Vscustomprinting]

Same

[@RobAlberto_4]

I am thankful that I enjoy listening and learning from DR. Spolsky

[@ekner]

Part of becoming better at social interactions as an autistic person is just being "allowed" around other people so you get a chance to train your skills. I've trial-and-errored my way to becoming pretty well liked, but it wasn't always that way. Actually learning psychology and behavioral evolution and so on, made me equipped to draw working conclusions from my social interactions and start learning a lot faster. If that isn't the most autistic solution to learning to socialize, I don't know what is 😂

[@tracy9610]

Brilliant!

[@debpoarch3881]

OMG! I have a friend who is a terrible oversharer. He and his wife have believed he has ADHD for many years. He's on a med for it. I just realized that he may be on the autistic spectrum! Now I see a lot of his behavior that supports this! Not recognizing social queues, talking to loud etc. He can't understand or accept that I am not as interested in subjects or musical artists as he is. Wow. Thanks!

[@jqyhlmnp]

In case you’re lost: that is the back of a dog next to Robert, not the front of a fried fish.

[@Shubham-jq2vs]

That dog didn't move much

[@MrZAPPER1000]

Insufficient dog movement!

[@joanabug4479]

It may seem like Safi is napping there, but she's actually proof-reading freshly written chapters. Of course, those had to be off-screen, hence... 😆

[@l.w.paradis2108]

Oh my goodness 😂

[@Amethyst_Friend]

I'm worried about what you've been eating

[@cht2162]

I'm so grateful I found you.

[@leoavecesentiendo]

Grateful that circumstance and disposition allowed me to find such honest wisdom and a bit of serenity in a world where sense and wonder shows itself in and to the curious one. Thank you!

[@edi4530]

Hilarious seriousness. 🌿 You deserve a million views per episode. All the best from Norway. 🎉

[@BigMind98]

You're the blast, I need no rest From your lectures. JUST THE BEST.

[@andrewbaker8373]

I had the free will as a non scientist to listen and be enthralled by this lovely learning process that this series provides. Do encourage more people to subscribe to this they are seriously missing out.

[@artiearthur83]

One of the best episodes yet, perhaps because I am on the spectrum, and enjoyed your insight into gratitude rather than pride.

[@treehuggr849]

Im so grateful for you, Dr. Sapolsky!

[@Rudee3]

I can imagine Roberts work becoming something of a foundational text for future society’s in their endeavour to make institutions fairer. It should ready be doing so tbh. How I’d love to hear him in conversation with Michael Sandel. Any chance??

[@curiousreporter4292]

"Be grateful rather than proud" 🙏

[@aaronb.4499]

The thing is, the feeling of pride vs grateful is completely arbitrary and likely differs from person to person.

[@cindyscott8470]

More grateful than I can express, thank you both !

[@yaongingyfmm1571]

The problem with the last question, regarding meritocracy, as prof. Sapolsky already alluded to is pride, because the people who are proud of their achievements tend also to be ignorant, arogant, and entitled, about how they got where they are. So I would add that besides being grateful, about something you are able to achieve, you should also be humble and decent about it...

[@jimwilliams3816]

I would submit that the single biggest problem is a tendency to view others critically for not being able to do what they did. It’s all too easy, in that scenario, to see being poor as the result of moral failing, and thus view it as an acceptable outcome that the poor person could escape but for their unwillingness to try. It’s a concept that makes no sense, because even if free will exists there are many systemic barriers. It extends way beyond the arrogant high achievers, though. Pretty much everyone judges other people as morally wanting at times. We may be capable of developing a sense of right and wrong, and this can be useful, but as I think Sapolsky has noted, morality develops out of an initial visceral sense of fair/unfair. The irony is that, when I view meritocratic adherents with scorn - and I certainly can - I am invoking the same visceral response, I’m prone to see that behavior as a moral failing too. Humans, I have come to think, are wired to judge each other. My theory is that we may be the first species that cares why another individual does what it does, and as such we are not that good at implementation yet.

[@yaongingyfmm1571]

​@@jimwilliams3816We have a natural tendency to judge others, it's a default setting for us humans, and it's one that it's hard to overcome. I don't remember where I heard this, it may have been from prof. Sapolsky, but an anthropologist that has studied a current hunter-gatherer tribe said that at night, around the fire, 75% of the time was dedicated to gossip, about other members of the tribe. So if as a species, we've spent tens of thousands of years, gossiping about each other, I guess it's pretty safe to say this is a hard-wired trait difficult to overlook. We are not the only species who cares, what another individuals does, there are other species who have a sense of morality, prof. Sapolsky has spoken about it. Of course it's a more rudimentary morality, but some species have a sense of right and wrong.

[@bradsillasen1972]

This channel is a gift! :D) I'd like to see a discussion of just what pride is, its adaptive value, and the general neurobiology behind it (brain areas, neurotransmitters and hormones etc.).

[@jonasholzer4422]

I am very grateful for these videos. I have listened to your lectures so many times, because they are fascinating to me. And now I finally get new Sapolsky content

[@l.w.paradis2108]

One of my favorite, feel-good shows! The heartwarming part doesn't distract; on the contrary, I remember everything.

[@Bandpractice13]

Gratitude is the flying buttress of living ! Always thank your lucky stars ! Thank you so much for all these lectures and awesome Offspring creating a calm environment for listening ❤❤to them! 🐨

[@VCE4]

It is delightful to find such video. Helps to carry through rough times, that seem to have no end whatsoever.. Thank you.

[@reallysomebody]

Long live telomeres!

[@briseboy]

Telomeres are repetitive, & don't code for proteins, so too much attention may bore you. Say TTTTTTTTTTTTTTT . . . to find out how sustainably amused you can be. P.S. Buena suerte, everyone, on adding to your tails.

[@Blade_of_Tomoe]

I think it's obvious that some people's soul gets crushed by the idea that they are not responsible for their achievements, especially if they had to go through hell. As such I usually try to make them understand how other people could have ended up in their dire situations, and that they had no control over it, while not outright telling them their own accomplishments mean nothing, in the hopes that this gives them more empathy for others while still keeping their sense of self-worth.

[@personofinterest8731]

Thank you for this. I remember Bret W speaking about this in lab mice! So happy to get a nice, clear explanation. ❤

[@Abe6531]

Heck yeah! I've been anxiously awaiting your next video! I'm looking forward to commenting again once I finish watching this!

[@andrewbaker8373]

On the depression meritocracy issue. Having some specialised or particularised areas of excellence is arguably less important than the quality or adaption within an individual to integrate this with other needed qualities that are less adept and the self esteem that does that work within a person. There are many examples of those who made huge virtues of finding the right context and opportunity to be successful who do not have a wide range of abilities and examples to the contrary of those with ability and potential who don't get there.

[@bryanutility9609]

Guess I’m just lucky to be better than others. I’ll take great joy and “pride” in MY accomplishments thanks. Feels so good to be blessed by determinism. 👍🏻

[@andrushkokate1480]

This is pure pleasure to watch, and listen, and absorb! Absolutely delighted to get a minuscule more educated! Immensely grateful. As a newjoiner where can send a question if possible

[@teteco00]

Although it has nothing to do with the content of the video, I’d love to see a conversation between Dr. Sapolsky and Dr. Raine. Both are the ones I admire the most. It feels like they are the same person in different areas

[@badcafe]

Thanks for writing captions!

[@AntonijaBogadi]

I'm so grateful for these interviews!

[@bardwessel4663]

I find this contribution to what autism concerns so totally relevant and perfectly fitting also to us diagnosed on the spectrum, including in particular the placement of diverse functioning in manners that opens actually for possible value of alternative methods relating not only to weaknesses but possibly (or in parts) also to possibly fortunate traits ... that I'm brought to recall a point of personal value that I haven't seen in literaure but within that focusing on the exact theme, and even there I claim to have seen underestimation of the importance of this particular matter according to inevitable formation of personal structure, reactions to methods attempted as surely parts of one's efforts making no doubt often for determinative acts. And the earlier the worse, I'm afraid. Take for instance the by some of us invaluable act of sorting the connecting, the relating, or the on logical terms pointing directions of objects, or somehow in uncommonly detailed manners include "too much of all" of what makes for some phenomenon to adopt to, which one might "in unorderly manners and severily time consuming" only achieve by attempting to establish notes that may later make way for the entrances to work with on terms of sufficiant repetitions, as we all know it possible only where recognision overshadows the time betweens to "in the end" allow for proper oversight, which of cause makes at best also for proper trust both in the material and in the adopting self and in the very end for proper and truly thorrough understanding. Or at best before, but there's no doubt to me that the urge to behave in such manners will generally araise much earlier among certain types of autistic people then what's otherwise common, even where difficulties also with attention is part of one's game, though Asperger's could be the most typically involved. The emotional basis for my point is however the vast importance of the responses to behavior that one as human later lives with, as it makes obviously for anything between traumas to carry indefinately and the roots to build one's minimum self esteem on. Gets one as response to hear "that's not what I asked of you" or "there's no time for that now" or even "people adopting to matters in that manner never finishes anything in time" ... then ... well it goes from that point on without saying, I suppose, that to set an end to what might be the only achievable path to one might make for ... very little at best, while to simply register that attempts are about may be of severily great value. Here's a reminder, by the way, that could perhaps tell someone that obstinacy might not neccessarily be what to best judge a personality on: "Why do you do that now?" "Because I like to waist my time, of cause! Why do you think?"

[@deathrides4756]

Dr Sapolsky, you are a testiment to the best that humanity can achieve. Intelligent, fluent, kind, knowledgeable, non-judgemental, a great teacher. You have greatly influenced my thinking. Though, as an introvert, and someone with tendencies of depressive episodes, I often feel overwhelmed with a grand pessimism regarding humanity and its future. How do you settle a restless mind?

[@Drpriyaparmar]

Thank you for the illuminating answer to question #3. GRATEFUL And super lucky to follow you and to be me

[@watcher1326]

Great topics! Big fan of Dr. Sapolsky's expertise.

[@Alex-js5lg]

One of the very few things I disagree with Dr Sapolsky on is the notion that it makes no sense to praise/reward/punish/criticize people. We know from a psychological and neurological perspective that those actions are integral parts of behaviour modification. Even if free will is entirely non-existent, it would be enormously detrimental to society as a whole if we stopped rewarding good behaviour, encouraging selflessness, criticizing callousness, and punishing cruelty. Free will or not, it's easier to change a person's behaviour _with_ incentives and feedback than without them.

[@Blade_of_Tomoe]

Yeah I've always been an honest person, brutally honest sometimes. Turns our it doesn't do good to many people, and I may come off as an asshole. Praise is nonsense, but it certainly helps all people, and it makes them feel better, even if they know they had nothing to do with their achievements. It makes us feel appreciated and worthy. Also he has said he doesn't disagree with punishment, as long as it help-focused instead of getting a feeling of justice and joy out of needlessly kicking someone's ass.

[@Rudee3]

Our institutions need to be set up in a way that they appreciate our psychological needs and biases whilst recognising their shortcomings esp in appreciating the reality of circumstantial / constitutive luck in life outcomes. Moral desert is dead, just don’t tell everyone before they’re ready or be ready for almighty kickback!

[@bradsillasen1972]

Excellent points, all ripe for exploration.

[@porter9260]

I think we can still thank each other for services and somehow learn from our mistakes without feeling punished. I think humans will always feel disappointment as punishment enough? This would require a completely different economic model right?

[@porter9260]

It's as if people find a skill with whatever options life offers. This role isn't ego driven but very gratifying in other ways and it supports having food, shelter, ect ., Am I doing this right?

[@AnneNicholson-yy5ro]

So, on the one hand, we have the ABA model that you describe and on the other hand, we have the Stanley Greenspan DIR floortime model, which is a psycho analytic play therapy model. I personally engage the second model with my work with kids on the autism spectrum. We take them into nature where they are interacting with rocks, plants, and animals.

[@noellecuisine8912]

❤ love this one too, and love the teaching tools!!! Cheers to your great sense of humor and teaching pedagogy!

[@hammersaw3135]

Just found this freshness. I am subscribing, I hope when my beard is that grey, my hair still looks that good lol

[@claudia.k.g.1271]

What I ride! Thank you for sticking around and making your invaluable videos. You are doing good!

[@gbizzotto]

george carlin said it. be grateful, not proud. advice for life

[@hammersaw3135]

You should NOT be proud of your hard work I absolutely agree! Work is done, then forgotten, that is why it endures forever. If you do something for props it is not genuine, and no merit is gained by doing such a thing. If you want to do something great, that changes the world forever, you have to do it because you genuinely want to do it, not because it just pays your bills.

[@jrnmadsen2710]

Many thanks for the answer. Apologies for not providing name and location. (I am the one asking about autism and brain plasticity) Jorn Madsen Copenhagen, Denmark

[@tracy9610]

Thanks, it was a great question!

[@KeithCooper-Albuquerque]

Thank you both for another wonderful episode!

[@JC-justchillin]

I appreciate the notion of adjusting how much to keep talking and check in along the way.Perhaps my son and I can use this. Hyperbolic stuff too. Interesting people who don't get it - or don't appreciate it - are the ones that need to make the adjustment.

[@jennymhumble]

I really enjoy learning from these podcasts! Thank you so much for doing them!! ☺️

[@jimwilliams3816]

I’ll try the one minute version, which is not my best thing: thank you for the footnote on autism and the term disorder. I’m not one who views my neurology as simply “different,” but I was taken aback by your use of the word “disease” in another episode. I’m not among those who really objects to theory of mind issues as a described trait, but I will note that it is quirkier than the stereotypes people have. In my case, I developed the awareness at about the typical age, but there are things about it that confuse me, and to use your descriptor, I don’t think it expresses naturally in me. I share your perspective on meritocracy, a concept I dislike. I don’t like praise, nor am I good at giving it, and your explanation may be why. I’m not wired for gratitude, but let me suggest that feeling good about being useful is my preferred version. Useful does not favor competition over cooperation in the way pride or envy can.

[@michigannatureandwildlife6896]

Not to dwell on telomeres too much, but I’m curious how this may affect gametes of aged males. While women produce their eggs relatively early in life, could the degradation of telomeres in older males affect the DNA carried by their sperm in a way that could impact their later offspring?

[@bryorama]

Grateful for yall, thanks for another great episode

[@mariannaark5899]

I really wonder how much these concerns about going into existential crisis if u can't take pride and what not are mostly a product of our culture and if perhaps we overestimate how difficult it'd be adjusting to a gratefulness mindset. This is purely from my own experience ofc, but I found it very easy to accept this whole deal because my life sort of built towards it: I live in a typical capitalist society but with relatively chill parents who didn't make me overvalue typical achievements, I got depression as a teen and had to accept that my mood is out of my hands sometimes, I found your lectures on yt pretty early on so you did instill this "it's all a product of biology and how it interacts with the environment" way before you came out loud abt the no free will thing.. I had gotten to feeling gratful that my efforts to not give in to depression and remain functional panned out (cause I knew if "my brain decided" to fully pull me back I wouldn't be able to control it). So it was very easy to fully switch to this mindset without being literally raised with it or in some culture alternative to the typical western one. It was all comforting and freeing, it didn't make me stop trying to stay healthy and pursue goals just as any other person.. so like what I'm trying to say is it that perhaps in the resistance you're facing, bootstrap americans and type a hyperachievers are overrepresented but other average people won't struggle with it as much.

[@debpoarch3881]

btw, I would pay a subscription fee for these.

[@Radiatoron88]

15:22: "No degree of practicing piano 10,000 hours a week is ever gonna make me sound like Yuja Wang." Or make you look like her as she teeters over to the piano in her high heels. (^0^) I'm a big fan of her performance of Scriabin's Op. 11 no. 11 Prelude. She makes it seem easy as can be. I only wish it were!

[@damienburrello933]

Most people are really good at believing a sigma grindset is an available option to them, and that its just a matter of deciding to do it, no matter who you are… Im really good at not retiring and being uncomfortably honest about my feelings.

[@egorpshenichnov]

Such a wonderful girl😻🐾

[@katambrose5568]

These insights are so fascinating. After every episode, my mind reels with more questions and possibilities. Do ya'll know anything about behavior effecting telomere length? FYI: my Japanese husband if freaking out right now about you having a shoe on the couch and table. hahaha.

[@briseboy]

1. The word "pride" rather automatically assumes that accomplishments are solely the product of an individual. This does not differ from the definitions of narcissism, of incapacity to recognize physical self from imagined identity with another individual organism, from ASD. While we can recognize that our entire exteroceptive sensory apparatus plus the heuristic representation our neurons code (through evolved brain self-signaling, practice incidentally, when a brain repeats synaptic signaling, when in sleep, in DMN rumination, and , well, acquisition of habitual practice, due to motivation to repeat and eliminate errors) in the types of memory. You can note that autistic spectrum variance is involved in several of the mentioned processes. Appropriate sensorimotor response involves intentionality, although we are evolved to engage in repetition, through hormonal self-signaling. Yuja Wang, as a profoundly accomplished expressive pianist - a necessity for good playing of music - obviously has strongly connected emotional, empathic circuitry, including with her small finger muscles, just as an expressive dancer has with their entire body. Wang does also express with her entire body, in a very real sense, expressing throughout her entire system. This includes, but is NOT remotely limited to, the development of "touch" the sensitive, variance of the hard, soft, flowing, sliding actions of her fingers. Just as with dancers, the complex, and differently topologically structured cerebellum continues to remain in action, unlike the more isolated repetitious actions of well-learned repetitious movement, which initially flashes in that region, but does not substantially contribute to rote repetition. obsession, perseveration, appears not to be involving that important predictive or expectant flowing of motor activity except on the most simple signaling level. What this all makes us think about, is developmental windows, periods when learning is most easily acquired. Interoceptive and sensorimotor attention appears to be prioritized , starting from the slow acquisition of basic physical intentional skills for us highly altricial animals. It had to have been Dr Sapolsky who mentioned how baby ungulates drop from mothers, and immediately impulsively, but consciously, focus on balance, and mastering the movements of which their bodies are capable. That is regarded comparatively as precocial, they first act to enable coordinated motion, running, jumping, and responding to sensory inputs with motor responses. Those who were slower were more likely to have their lives ended in infancy. In our own species, infants prioritize social signaling, although they have to learn the more physical motion and correlative associative responses. That neural pruning of the exorbitantly connected neurons of early childhood, enable both appropriate social signaling as well as close off inappropriate alternate motor responses, as well as to some extent the most habitual sensory reports of noises, visual signals as of wind moving grasses, that startle infants into attentive mode. This all occurs through changes occurring inducing methylation or the lifting of specific parts of one's genome from its tight winding around histone proteins through adding acetyl group, which process es tend to remain dynamic - the gene silencing of methylation sometimes is removed by electrical, ionic acetylation. It's al too complex to generalize over, but growth, development.all that 5' and 3' biochemical molecular process is important to understand for those interested. Take biochemistry & molecular biology to gain understanding of RNA and DNA processes that create growth, development, diversity of expression. as i have not read Dr Sapolsky's recent works on determinism and free will I cannot comment, other than to note that complex dynamical systems induce high probabilities of enormous variations, and such immense dynamical factors , while deterministic, obviate any argument about whether free will has meaning or is a trivial concern. I vote for the latter. Every organism is not only astoundingly, utterly unique, AND changes in both deterministic and stochastic ways (and stochastic occurrence differs from pure randomicity, due to randomness including factors that cannot affect a particular molecule or organism or system. Vulnerabilities to modification vary.), but ALSO increasingly becomes MORE unique, different from its own past identity, activity, and composition at EVERY moment of its cohesion and existence. We are limited narrowly only in comparison to other, far different organisms, taxa, individuals. Some of our limits as existential - mutation and environmental molecular and larger effects can and do end existences. This is also trivial although I'll for my lifetime maintain that life seems to have evolved to be hedonic- pleasurable somehow self-signaling some inherent pleasure and eagerness to use, experience, live. While this is handy for all us nucleic acid guys, from seeds to sequoias, spores to cetaceans, we tend to generally REALLY like it, with just a little experience, becoming quite attached. *no, I'm not ASD, I'm just having fun, after a hot day. I DO regard most people in our culture to be pretty SEVERELY ADHD, unable to focus for more than a few moments. You might try living with more traditional humans, who get a MAJOR charge out of sharing dreams, and highly emotionally salient thoughts, actions, discoveries, and newly learned skills.

[@marchalthomas6591]

No free will doesn't mean we should get rid of rewards and punishment, as they are incentives to do things or behave in a certain way. Being proud is not only useless but pride is always very quickly annoying for others as it shows hubris and/or can provoke jealousy. So instead we should be glad, as gladness (of something good) is a positive sentiment that can put others in a better disposition towards us (but can still induce jealousy). So the best attitude would be to be humble and stay quiet (stf up) about our luck and share some skills with others. Edit: and i see you're talking about all that at the end, that makes me so proud... I mean glad... I mean that's cool

[@jimwilliams3816]

The dilemma that is always faced by the criminal justice system is that some people are wired to respond to reward and punishment, but not everyone. The system typically views this in terms of “crimes of passion” vs. premeditation, though it’s more complicated than that. But the single biggest issue is that we tend to mix our own perceptions of “justice” into determining penalties. At that point it crosses over from attempts to rationally conclude what steps need to be taken to allow society to function (is this person a danger to society, and must we incarcerate them? Are they inclined to transgress again for their own benefit, and will penalties change their calculations?), and it moves into emotional territory (we are appalled at this person’s behavior, and will not be comfortable with the outcome unless they experience what we consider to be suitable repercussions). It’s the same emotion set that leads to many crimes in the first place, and I submit that it strengthens the cycle of human conflict rather than dialing it down. Being angry at people for what we consider unacceptable behavior is a natural emotion, but I think it needs to be recognized for what it is, and not justified as being intended to discourage acts that it will not.

[@thereligion4169]

MISTER DOCTOR PROFESSOR SAPOLSKY NEVER WATCHED PHINEAS AND FERB CLEARLY, THAT PART OF THE SHOELACE IS CALLED AN AGLET SIR

[@bulhakov]

Meritocracy makes sense as a mechanism for evolutionary selection. We make value judgments all the time-about potential mates, members of our society, and ourselves. Pride/shame and gratitude/resentment are the psychological equivalents of pleasure/pain - feedback that we are doing something beneficial for survival.

[@quicknumbercrunch8691]

Beautifully explained (all 3 topics). I discovered the brain mechanism that creates thoughts. Interested?

[@Marjorie197]

Hola Dr. Robert Sapolsky. Me gustaría mucho que a sus videos les agregaran subtítulos en español. Gracias.

[@bridgham1]

In Brave New World, the Hayflick Limit is predicted in what Aldous Huxley termed the Bokanovsky Process.

[@Raphonaldo]

Fasting is really popular now as a way to promote stem cell generation and preserving nerve cells in the brain? What does Dr. Sapolsky think about the promises of intermittent or longer fasting on brain health?

[@jonah-b7k]

Check the description, there's a link to submit questions. I'm super interested in your question and I'd love to hear his thoughts.

[@debpoarch3881]

Yay Merrels!

[@tracy9610]

🤘🏻 team Merrell!

[@theoryman1]

Useless fact: the plastic at the end of a shoelace = aglet 🤪

[@littlebitofhope1489]

Is an Aglet a baby Ag?

[@michigannatureandwildlife6896]

I take it you used to watch Phineas and Ferb. 😉

[@geirvassli]

My aglets tend to have a low Hayflick limit. A nature-nurture-interaction thing

[@jimwilliams3816]

I knew that, don’t ask me why, but I’d forgotten. Thank you! No fact is ever useless, at least for some of us. 😊

[@RottenChain]

I wish everyone could hear these words and know that meritrocracy is not real

[@johnnycomelately6341]

Bravo

[@1ApeinSpace]

Question, if our internal body temperature is 98.8 degrees then why do we feel hot when its 80 degrees outside?

[@aaronb.4499]

I wonder if "bio feed back" sessions would benefit autistic children and adults... ?

[@Michael-x4i2x]

@robert sapolsky I may be the human equivalent of the ant bridge you've been looking for.

[@StefanManov]

I believe it is a mistake to conflate the morality of meritocracy with its practicality. Even if all my decisions turn out to be completely determined by external factors like genes and the environment, the factors themselves are not fixed. No matter whether I am to praise/blame for my disposition to respond to incentives or not, I still have it and will respond to them. If you say that I'm not entitled to a reward for my good actions, I will be less likely to do them than if you reward me for them - and this says nothing about free will and morals, it is a purely mechanistic reaction of my brain to my environment.

[@curiousreporter4292]

Good morning sir Sapolsky Shahid from India

[@brandoncrooks1681]

Anybody have the source for the corpus callosum autism stuff and the power law distribution of neuron connections in autism?

[@robertgaunt59]

I have the kind of brain that can relate to this

[@evangravitz4029]

The Keen Targhee IV is far superior to Merrells. I have the Targhee IVs now, but I did own some Merrell Men's Moabs about 13 years ago.

[@mikel5582]

While I agree that none of us are truly responsible for our successes or failures due to the fact that our individual talents and weaknesses are the product of circumstances we had no control over, I'm not fully convinced that a logical extension of that is that social meritocracy makes no intellectual sense because that position fails to consider the evolutionary implications of the merit based social structure that is instinctual and pervasive in social mammals. Bigger, stronger, smarter individuals get more than smaller, weaker, lower intelligence individuals. Our species evolved under those pressures so we may not be ecologically equipped to dump those instincts. On the other hand, bees, ants, termites, and othe social insects do not seem to be burdened by a mammalian sense of individualism. That ecological strategy may not be suitable for mammals. This argument assumes that perpetuation of our species is an intellectually reasonable position and I will concede that's not a given.

[@rahmikarakadoglu5602]

🥰🥰🥰

[@margotholmes7857]

💯

[@margotholmes7857]

Is being confident an attribute?

[@devos3212]

Where are people asking these questions? It’s clear they don’t respond to comment on KZbin or Instagram.

[@tracy9610]

Ever considered reading the description?

[@bweresquirrel8279]

If free will doesn't exist then why suggest a choice between feeling grateful or proud? You admit to not being very good at feeling gratitude: maybe that's the same innate dispositional tendency as everything else. Or if you do get a choice between gratitude and pride, then why not have choices about other aspects of life?

[@kayaa1234567]

Start teaching that to kids from day 1. Be the causal link to activate this path of causality in their behavior.

[@apollo6457]

Him telling you to be grateful instead of prideful is apart of the causal path that may very well change the way you see things, whether it resonates to you or bounces off or you get it 10 years down the track, that is up in the air 😂

[@Blade_of_Tomoe]

You do make a choice, it's just that you don't really control what choice you make. Whatever you choose is based on what kind of person you are (which you don't control either).

[@bradfordlangston836]

​@@kayaa1234567But you've have to be born as someone who cares enough about injustice, knows biology/philosophy to even think of teaching your kids that. It's a very circular philosophy. Not saying it's wrong.

[@gbizzotto]

if you watch this and start being grateful or don't, it's not your choice. blame the algorithm.

[@---Dana----]

Can you please even out the volume? The daughter is too loud in every video. Thank you.

[@SapientCephalopod]

AGLET. An aglet is what the little plastic cap is at the end of shoelaces. Just some useless trivia.

[@JB-wd2bd]

I wonder what the dog is called?

[@Zach______]

Safi

[@Zach______]

Episode #20 is about dogs. I only know because he answered my question. They have another dog named Kupenda: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnbWl5WXr7l4p6c

[@JB-wd2bd]

Oh, thanks - I'm looking the meanings up now :)​@@Zach______

[@Satyr_allyn]

Free will is an illusion, the self is an illusion. So we should probably abolish everything that is associated with these two “horrid” illusions……

[@margotholmes7857]

Is grateful an attribute? Humble? If empathy is than I completely wonder about that…

[@mahakala]

all religions teach gratefulness over pride.

[@mcd5478]

I’m so grateful for these videos. I learn so much every time I listen 🥹💖 Dr Sapolsky, you’re a fabulous professor, teacher, lecturer, human.

[@stevenlaube7535]

congratulation on the tits boB well done guys and yes exercise and every thing it get better , except a broken hart

[@dmacrolens]

12:04

[@klausgartenstiel4586]

yeah, but grateful to whom exactly?

The thing is aiglet. There's a word for it. Go figure.

[@stevenlaube7535]

cancer is a poor analogy its complex subject to be treated so noting the wort that cancer is and may be instigated by infection as noted by Harvey in his book on the Hart

[@davidwilkie9551]

"Good at..", not equal to skilled at, unless you like to reward yourself emotionally, ie fool yourself based solely on appearances, by typical free-will half-truth.

[@nickidaisydandelion4044]

Robert and daughter are you For World Peace and saving our economy and animal safety? Then vote for Donald Trump.

[@FatherGapon-gw6yo]

If this guy wants to be taken seriously he should trim his beard and get s haircut, take s shower and dress up. Kudos to interviewer for putting up with the stench.

[@OrmondOtvos]

Nice way you slid over competence in governance, which is what the actual word means: merit ocracy. Just like autocracy, democracy, kakocracy, (rule by the worst of people.) Meritocracy is the opposite of kakocracy, and deserves a lot more thought than just dismissing it with a few poor examples. Perhaps you could give it more than egalitarian analysis. Try steelmanning it. Consider also technocracy, which is not rule by machine, but by competent governors. The other parts were pretty good, but in watching your lectures, the stink of wokery creeps in. Think about it...

[@doldoki]

communist materialist Sapolsky.

[@MrJerryStevenson]

❤