Annaka Harris

But there are now studies specifically about free will to see.

if there are markers at the level of the brain, they can see what decision you're going to make and when you make that decision.

And I think the neuroscience inevitably is just going to get better.

And so part of the reason I'm so passionate about this, I mean, there's the science and there's just the curiosity that drives me of wanting to understand how the universe works.

But I actually see a lot of the neuroscience presenting us

with truths that are going to be difficult for us to accept.

And I actually think there are really positive ways to view these truths that we're uncovering.

And even though they can be initially kind of jarring and even destabilizing and creepy, I think ultimately there's actually a lot

it can have a positive effect on human psychology and a whole range of things that I and others have experienced and that I think it's important for us to talk about because you can't hide from the truth, especially in science, right?

Like it just, it will reveal itself.

And if this is true, I think not only

for better understanding the universe and nature, which is kind of my primary passion.

It's important for us to...

absorb these facts and realize that they don't, it doesn't necessarily take away the things from us that we fear.

You know, I've heard people say, as was talked about, it's a common point to make or question to ask a scientist, can you still, you know, enjoy chocolate if you're a molecular biologist?

And is there a molecular biologist that would be the one who would understand how we experience chocolate?

I have the wrong sign.

But anyway, if you're focused on the details of the underlying nature of reality, does that take...

the joy and the pleasure and, for lack of a better word, spirituality out of our experience as human beings.

And I actually think for these illusions like free will and self, the reverse is true.