No room for free will.
Do we have free will? Robert Sapolsky, a professor of biology, of neurology, and of neurosurgery and a favorite lecturer on campus, says no. In his new book, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, Sapolsky takes readers on a tour of their own biology to explain why, unlike many philosophers, he believes free will is a complete illusion.
Our decisions, Sapolsky says in his book, are the consequences of a “seamless stream of influences.” Even the breakfast you chose this morning was prompted, he’d argue, by the quality of sleep you got last night, how stressed you’ve been lately, your childhood experiences, your genes, and myriad other forces—which leaves no room for free will. Given a do-over, with all the same factors in place, you would pour the same bowl of Wheaties. Sapolsky, who sometimes serves as a witness in criminal trials to share this point of view, advocates for something even he concedes sounds outlandish: that none of us should face retribution for our actions—or be unduly celebrated for our heroics.
Make your move.
Free will or no, a new study analyzing the opening moves of master-level players in 3.45 million chess games between 1971 and 2019 reveals the influence of cultural biases. At baseline, an expert chess player would choose a move randomly among the moves played recently by other expert players. But the researchers identified three types of deviations, known as cultural biases in the field of cultural evolution. There was evidence of players copying winning moves (success bias), choosing atypical moves (anti-conformity bias), and copying moves by celebrity players (prestige bias)—showing, they say, cultural evolution over time.
What if you want a move that's all your own? See how it happened for chess streamer Alexandra Botez, ’17, in Stanford magazine’s 2022 story. And keep your eyes on sophomore Carissa Yip, who in October won her second U.S. Women’s Championship title.
A heist to remember.
Photo: Courtesy Ed Riddell/Stanford Daily
We may have lost Big Game this year (27–15), but history has shown that winning isn't the only way to get the Axe. Since its inaugural appearance at an 1899 campus rally, the Axe has been a trophy at risk of thievery by merciless fans on both sides of the Bay. And 50 years ago, Tim Conway, ’74, and David Suliteanu, ’75, launched the last known scheme to pull the Axe out from under the Weenies. There was mayhem, madness, and chaos on a pink Cadillac—and the story is immortalized in Stanford magazine. (Which is undoubtedly better than being immortalized in bronze on the Cal campus—as was Tom Smith, ’83, the saxophone player in a famed 1982 photo of the Play.)
Closing the circuit.
Gene Kim, a junior, wanted to study mechanical engineering but turned to computer science because it was more accessible to him as a student who is blind. “3D modeling is a really big problem for blind folks who want to get into mechanical engineering,” he told Stanford Report. Aya Mouallem, MS ’23, a PhD candidate in electrical engineering, hopes to address one aspect of that challenge by building an electronic circuit simulator that’s accessible to learners with blindness or low vision. Mouallem, who is a Knight-Hennessy Scholar and a fellow with Stanford’s RAISE (Research, Action, and Impact through Strategic Engagement) doctoral program, is partnering with the nonprofit LightHouse to design the simulator, which uses haptic and digital components to provide tactile and audio feedback. Kim, who helped Mouallem with the design criteria, thinks the tool could lead more people to study mechanical and electrical engineering. “I think people would be a lot less burned out and stressed from having to come up with creative ways to work around the accessibility challenges,” he said.
But wait, there’s more.
Dianne Feinstein, ’55, hired many Stanford students and alums as staffers and interns. Some of them recently shared their memories of the senator, who wedged herself into the boys’ club, worked across the aisle, and saw her successes not in the elections she won but in the people she helped.
Stanford’s 14th provost, Jenny Martinez, spoke with Stanford magazine about her first weeks on the job and her long-standing connection to Stanford. The former dean of the Law School is a free-speech expert whose father taught some of the first Chicano studies classes at Stanford.
With flu season come flu shots, and with flu shots come crying children, but the Stanford CHARIOT program’s new tablet-based video game, Piñataz, aims to distract kids with a build-your-own-piñata game.
New coronavirus research suggests that making the viruses less infectious may hinge on, well, hinges. Every spike on a coronavirus particle contains a bending point, or hinge, that allows the top of the spike to tilt up to 80 degrees in any direction. Impede the ability of that hinge to bend, suggests the research, and the viruses might not spread so easily.
ICYMI: On Democracy Day, Larry Diamond, ’73, MA ’78, PhD ’80, a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and James Fishkin, a professor of communication, shared highlights from an October conversation on democracy, division, and bridge-building that included Hoover Institution director Condoleezza Rice and provost Jenny Martinez, and was moderated by broadcast journalist Gretchen Carlson, ’88. View the recording or read the transcript here.
Turkey time! Last week, president Richard Saller and provost Jenny Martinez served up Thanksgiving dinner to graduate students.
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