Epilogue: Is the Brain Free to Choose? ~ Tim Coulson episode artwork

EPISODE · Nov 5, 2025 · 16 MIN

Epilogue: Is the Brain Free to Choose? ~ Tim Coulson

from On Humans · host Ilari Mäkelä

You decided to start reading this. But could you have chosen otherwise? In this short epilogue to this fall's brain science -series, Oxford biologist Tim Coulson gives his defense of free will. (The episode is an unheard clip from the conversation with Tim Coulson, originally recorded as part of the Origins of Humankind -series in March 2025. )LINKS For highlights, longer quotes, and references, see my essay at OnHumans.Substack.com.Tim Coulson's book is called The Universal History of Us (in the UK) and The Science of Why We Exist (in the US). For more episodes on the human brain, check ⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com/Brain⁠⁠Want to support the show? Join the club at ⁠⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠⁠MENTIONSNames: Albert Einstein | Niels Bohr Terms and concepts: free will | many worlds -interpretation vs the Copenhaguen interpretation of quantum mechanics | Brownian motion | Quantum biology | stochasticity vs determinism | neural integration vs complexity | chance & necessity | philosophy | physics | biology | neuroscience

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Epilogue: Is the Brain Free to Choose? ~ Tim Coulson

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