So There Is No Free Will. Now What?
Author Bio(s)
Robert “Bob” Speth, Ph.D., professor at NSU’s College of Pharmacy, joined the university in 2009. His research interests center on neuroscience and receptor pharmacology, with an emphasis on the brain renin-angiotensin system. Research accomplishments of Speth and his colleagues include the first report of a benzodiazepine receptor in the human brain, discovery of angiotensin II receptors in the ovary and epididymis, the first localization of angiotensin II receptor subtypes in the rodent brain, and the characterization of the mas oncogene protein as the receptor for angiotensin 1-7. Speth has published nearly 170 peer-reviewed manuscripts (of which more than 30 have been co-authored by undergraduate students), dozens of non-peer-reviewed manuscripts and miscellaneous writings, and approximately 100 letters to editors and op-ed pieces advocating for the use of animals in biomedical research. Speth’s teaching interests include all aspects of pharmacology and bioethics, which he has taught for more than 30 years.
Talk Description
With the sequencing of the human genome and advances in neuroscience, along with discoveries in the fields of epigenetics and social sciences, we have opened a Pandora’s Box. An increasingly unavoidable conclusion from the progress of science is that humans do not possess free will. Revealing this knowledge about ourselves challenges every facet of our understanding of who we are. This presentation will describe some of the mounting evidence that precludes the existence of free will. Additionally, this talk will attempt to resolve the paradoxical absence and illusion of free will that is so essential to our humanness.
Recommended Citation
Speth, Robert, "So There Is No Free Will. Now What?" (2014). TEDxNSU. 4.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tedxnsu/4
