I used to very politely say that if there is free will then it's in all sorts of boring places, like whether you're going to pick up this or that fork as you begin your meal. There really is none: It's all biology.
Robert SapolskyRead
Do I get grief for the fact that in communicating, say, about the baboons I'm doing so much anthropomorphizing? One hopes that the parts that are blatantly ridiculous will be perceived as such. I've nonetheless been stunned by some of my more humorless colleagues - to see that they were not capable of recognizing that.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the challenges and misunderstandings that arise from anthropomorphizing animals in scientific communication.
In this quote, Robert Sapolsky reflects on his experiences of communicating about baboons while anthropomorphizing their behavior. He acknowledges the risk of being misunderstood, particularly by colleagues who may lack the ability to appreciate humor and recognize the exaggerated elements in his descriptions, emphasizing the importance of effective communication in conveying complex ideas.
Themes
AnthropomorphizingCommunicationHumorBaboonsScience
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a lecture about the challenges of communicating scientific concepts to a general audience.
More from Robert Sapolsky
All quotes βWhen you've wised up enough, there is a very clear conclusion that you have to reach after a while, which is, at the end of the day, it is really impossible for one person to make a difference.
Robert SapolskyRead
My adolescent rebellions took the form of, if anything, passive aggressively doing what was asked of me but doing it ten times more than what was asked of me, so that eventually they'd have to beg me to stop.
Robert SapolskyRead
When humans invented material inequality, they came up with a way of subjugating the low-ranking like nothing ever seen before in the primate world.
Robert SapolskyRead
Yes, genes are important for understanding our behavior. Incredibly important - after all, they code for every protein pertinent to brain function, endocrinology, etc., etc. But the regulation of genes is often more interesting than the genes themselves, and it's the environment that regulates genes.
Robert SapolskyRead
I expected social rank to be the determining factor in health, and in some ways that's true. But far more important is what sort of society that rank occurs in. Being low ranking in a benevolent troop is a hell of a lot better for your blood pressure than being low ranking in an aggressive troop.
Robert SapolskyRead
Similar quotes
Perhaps arising from a fascination with animals, biology seemed the most interesting of sciences to me as a child.
Elizabeth BlackburnRead
My Design in this Book is not to explain the Properties of Light by Hypotheses, but to propose and prove them by Reason and Experiments: In order to which, I shall premise the following Definitions and Axioms.
Isaac NewtonRead
The real achievement in discoveries... is seeing an analogy where no one saw one before... The essence of discovery is that unlikely marriage of cabbages and kings β of previously unrelated frames of reference or universes of discourse β whose union will solve the previously insoluble problem.
Arthur KoestlerRead
The last thing that man will understand in nature is the performance of his brain.
John EcclesRead
In summoning even the wisest of physicians to our aid, it is probably that he is relying upon a scientific "truth", the error of which will become obvious in just a few years' time.
Marcel ProustRead
Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the nonexistence of Zeus or Thor, but they have few followers now.
Arthur C. ClarkeRead