Episode · EconTalk · 2025-12-15
Russ Roberts & Kevin Mitchell: books mentioned on EconTalk
Free Will Is Real (with Kevin Mitchell)
Are we truly characters with agency, or are we just playing out our programming in the great video game of life? Contrary to those in his field who claim that free will is an illusion, neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell insists that we're agents who wield our decision-making mechanism for our own purposes.
Russ Roberts discussed Determined by Robert M. Sapolsky and Free Agents by Kevin J. Mitchell.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Determined
Discussed“Uh, related episodes on the other side of the free will determinism debate include uh, my discussion with uh, Robert Sapolski on his book determined and the recent episode with Gerv Sururi on his book with Jay Mlen, the emergent mind.”
Where to get it
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Free Agents
Discussed“And you know it comes down one way to capture that you talk about in the book is the question of agency.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged Free Agents
“His latest book is Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will.”
Plugged Innate
“And I have a a previous book called Innate, which is all about how those things come about.”
Plugged Free Agents
“His book is free agents. Kevin, thanks for being part of Econ Talk.”