#64: Botox, Chemo Brain, Chess | Robert Sapolsky Father-Offspring Interviews

Conducting a weekly father daughter interview contest here: Sapolsky vs. Jordan Peterson. Team Sapolsky is in the lead! Yes!!! It’s on like a baboon troup with mature alpha males alive, and in charge, pre-poisoning episode. ❤😂

Thanks for another informative edition. I really appreacited your discussion of chemotherapy. It's important that patients make informed decisions about chemo and its side effects, and risks. I have had marginal zone lymphoma for the past 13 years and have done infusion therapy, and oral therapy. I'm currently on zanutranib . All I can say is do your research, and try and prepare your body for an ordeal (I know all about your fatigue). I found 5 small meals a day works for me. Don't be embarassed about needing naps. And always wear a mask, the flu, covid, RSV can easily turn into pneumonia. Lastly, get your vacinations and keep them up to date.

interesting as always. conversations with botox face injected people is more difficult, as it's not only they're less disagreeable by facial expression, there's not much facial expression at all.
just bought Allulose as a sweetener replacement for sugar for my wife, as i take coffee with milk. Is it better than stevia etc.?

religious/political leaders knew for a long time that they could invoke negative responses to fictional fears they spread

Does Botox work for Persistent Daily Headaches?

Great episode!🎉

esports player here (specifically from the fgc)
The games I play are very intense with hundreds upon hundreds of inputs and split-second decision making crammed into 30 seconds. It's common to sweat intensely when you need to put effort in, to the point that people who spend weeks trying to master them are called "sweats."

I'm deeply grateful I found your content, especially in regards to gender identity. Keep the stories flowing.

One of the biggest strengths of chemotherapy is its ability to treat cancer that has spread beyond the original site. It can shrink tumors, relieve symptoms, and in some cases, help achieve long-term remission or even a cure. Chemo is often used in combination with other treatments, enhancing their effectiveness.

Yipeeee! So Happy to see another Sapolsky video that I have decided to cancel the World Debt!

Many thanks Sir!
I am the Richard of the chemo brain question. FYI I am managing to keep a job in the VFX industry which is a challenge in itself, specially at the age of 63. So far so good as far as chemo brain is concerned, have done 3 months three months to go, obviously there are people in a much worse situation.
What I want to say is that your answer is absolutely valuable for the multitude of people undergoing chemo. The information given to patients is very shallow and an in-depth analysis like yours is pure gold.

Okay, I gotta share this. Right when Dr Sapolsky talked about discovering E-Sports and said "there are people online who play video games like" the video was interrupted to play a Sony PS5 ad which was followed by an ad for a Canadian Hockey channel.

Chess boxing is popular in Russia. 🇷🇺
Where else could it be?

You also mentioned 6/7 thousand calories and I think Gary Kasparov in the Stanford lectures, which just so you can see what a big fan I am, I've watched 4 times

It is fitting that Episode #64 features chess.

The Sapolskys make me happy

i have stress just by looking at some chess games :D

Thanks! Always good info. 🌐⚕️📚
Love all your content- no bull sh¡t.☮️

Thank you always a welcome revitalising viewing. Thank you both

fee will or thrownness Robert?

### *Inheritance of Ashes*

They were born into echoes,
raised in the shadows of promises lost.
Their lullabies were the hum of sirens,
their dreams traced in dust
settling over the wreckage of yesterday.

The world whispered condolences,
but never offered hands.
It watched, turned away,
let innocence slip between treaties,
between unkept vows,
between the weight of indifference.

Yet—still, they run.
Bare feet pounding against broken streets,
filling hollow spaces with laughter
where sorrow should live.

They gather remnants of before—
a cracked marble,
a scorched ribbon,
the memory of a door
that once led somewhere safe.

They do not ask why.
They know the silence holds no answers.
They know that justice is a ghost
that no one dares to name.

But in the quiet, in the ruin,
a defiance remains—
etched into the curve of a grin,
pressed into the grip of a child
who refuses to break.

And when the world pretends to forget,
they carve their names into the bones of survival,
into the wind, into the fire,
into the story that refuses
to be lost.

---

The ember still burns.
What do you think?

I'm confused about free will. If free will doesn't exist it means Benjamin Netanyahu has no option other than doing genocide of Palestinians.

Also, if Adolf Hitler didn't have free will he was bound to do genocide⁉️⁉️⁉️

Also the tech giants and weapon industries who are supporting Israel in doing genocide of Palestinians they are doing that because they have no free will and are bound to do that⁉️⁉️⁉️

Hi. Is there any evidence for a pathological psychopath lacking any emotions related to some relevant bran area and function when attacking and viewing their victim’s facial expression of fear?

In regards to chemo brain I would add the importance of an anti inflammatory diet. The book “Eat to Beat Disease” by Dr William Li is a great resource for very specific foods that help the body fight all kinds of diseases including cancer. And it’s science based!

I used to play chess seriously when I was a kid and I was very very thin. Then, life happened and I quit chess and I got fat. Totally conclusive, scientific proof that chess players burn more calories.

"it's over 6000!"
*crushes visor

Russia is out-chessboxing America. Only trump knows its even a game. And he's no good at it.

Loved the explanation for cancer. Thank you!

My favorite channel.

man, I thought these would have no implications for my mental health issues/special interest. Silly me. I'll have to think about the questions of expression vs. mood; it's a tough idea for those of us prone to RBF (Google it). As far as heart rate and intensity of emotion, I have come to the conclusion that it's a bit chicken-or-egg, which begets which? Probably works both ways, but I will say that from personal observation, I think the "you notice your elevated heart rate, and decide you are angry or afraid" model -- which I can say is still a popular idea in psychology -- IMO seriously overstates the need for self observation: it's more visceral. If your adrenaline shoots up it is talking to the rest of you body fairly directly. The idea that the conscious mind or limbic system notices the change and makes a reasoned judgement that this is what's happening seems overly "free willy" (sorry!) to me.

The chess one has the most implications for me, because I have judged that a lot of my decline in recent years has been a job that is both high pressure, and involves levels of concentration that I find difficult. I'd concluded that leaning on adrenaline, ADHD-style, for focus drove up my predisposition to high levels of stress hormones, and caused me to dysregulate massively. But understanding the effects of intense concentration on glucocorticoids and the sympathetic nervous system point to ways in which that probably played a role. As per marathon runners, exercise is viewed to be healthy, but you gotta be the person that the activity works for to benefit: if a shlubbly 64 year old decides to go out and run a marathon out of the blue, they are quite likely to end up with a heart attack. By the same token, cognitive exercise is generally good, but you can overdo that too, and what one person can do may not be what another person can safely do. A useful thing for both neurodivergent people and any person who has developed work related burnout to remember.

Professor Sapolsky, it would be nice if the journalist who interviewed you and other ones who propagated the quote listen to this podcast 😁

His comments on botox are fascinating.

Somehow, you and Peter Santenello seem to explain the world in vastly different arenas but it comes together to create understanding of what we are are what potential we do have. Thank you!

This stuff about expressions and empathy . . . I have a theory for you, I understand we haven't really decided what a smile IS? There is some tracing of laughter back to chimpanzees, but not smiling, as far as I've heard. - I think a smile is a silent, shared snarl, aggressive, showing your canines to your brothers in arms, proving your worth. And this fits what you said, when you're smiling, you don't see the sadness in the world, you don't worry about the Other? You can have that, anyone who wants my stuff, please, steal it. Love you guys, thank you for teaching.

,⚡ EXCELLENT CONTENT⚡©®™

Ha ha ha, oh, thank you, I have repeated that calorie business, and I can stop now - you know where I think I heard it, was from Trivers, either a video - or he put it in the Folly of Fools, where he said depression also burns a huge number of calories, from the brain working hard fighting itself. I suppose I'll turn that thought down a little?

Dr. Sapolsky is a treasure to all humanity. Thank you

ChemoBrain™ what do you expect when toxins are injected? It damages multiple pathways of the body and it boggles the mind that this is the go to treatment when there are better alternatives like supplementation, DMS0 etc. Look up A midwestern doctor blog-

The poster thing for Botox currently is Jeanine Piero, the failed judge and prosecutor in NY and now failing interim DA in DC. In the soon to be classic TACO briefing, Jeanine can be seen with a frozen face due to copious Botox injections - what an adaptation away from homo sapiens.

Thanks for another great episode! Man I learn so much from this channel!

Add in the hpv virus as a cancer cause

Sorry, there is no such thing as E-sports.

Very interesting, I still want to look frozen in time 😅 ngl

Such a lucky daughter to have Robert Sapolsky as her father.

Very interesting topics, thanks for that again. Many of your comments helped me understand a bit more about the physiological response to emotions. But I still would like to understand, how you can have those responses, but unable to experience them mentally, this kind of emotional numbness.

Great info!

Thanks!

Hello from viewer #6,000 !

"Depressed people may have an accurate view of the outside world but their view of themselves is totally distorted" As someone with depprssion I think about this quote all the time from Robert and it's so accurate and helpful. The world can be good or bad, you can understand it really well or not at all but the distorted negative self talk never shuts up. All of Robert's work on depression is fantastic and I'm glad I found this channel 👍

I love these interviews so much. Thank you, Dr. Sapolsky

Wow! So interesting, all. Thank you!