David Eagleman quotes - page 3

At least 15 percent of human females possess a genetic mutation that gives them an extra (fourth) type of color photoreceptor - and this allows them to discriminate between colors that look identical to the majority of us with a mere three types of color photoreceptors. (David Eagleman)
Behavior is the outcome of the battle among internal systems. View quote
David Eagleman
Vision is more than looking. View quote
David Eagleman
A mere 400 years after our fall from the center of the universe, we have experienced the fall from the center of ourselves. View quote
David Eagleman
Humans have discovered that they cannot stop Death, but at least they can spit in his drink. View quote
David Eagleman
Our internal life and external actions are steered by biological coctails to which we have neither immediate access nor direct acquaintance. View quote
David Eagleman
We believe we're seeing the world just fine until it's called to our attention that we're not. View quote
David Eagleman
Every week I get letters from people worldwide who feel that the possibilian point of view represents their understanding better than either religion or neo-atheism. View quote
David Eagleman
There are an infinite number of boring things to do in science. View quote
David Eagleman
The brain internally simulates what will happen if you were to perform some action under specific conditions. Internal models not only play a role in motor acts (such as catching or dodging) but also underlie conscious perception. View quote
David Eagleman
In our current understanding of science, we can't find the physical gap in which to slip free will - the uncaused causer - because there seems to be no part of the machinery that does not follow in a causal relationship from the other parts. (David Eagleman)
Each cell sends electrical pulses to other cells, up to hundreds of times per second. If you represented each of these trillions and trillions of pulses in your brain by a single photon of light, the combined output would be blinding. View quote
David Eagleman
Modern neuroimaging is like asking an astronaut in the space shuttle to look out the window and judge how America is doing. View quote
David Eagleman
Because vision appears so effortless, we are like fish challenged to understand water. View quote
David Eagleman
If you ever feel lazy or dull, take heart: you're the busiest, brightest thing on the planet. View quote
David Eagleman
When the brain activity is kindled in the right spot, people hear voices. If a physician prescribes an anti-epileptic medication, the seizures go away and the voices disappear. Our reality depends on what our biology is up to. View quote
David Eagleman
Interestingly, schizophrenics can tickle themselves because of a problem with their timing that does not allow their motor actions and resulting sensations to be correctly sequenced. View quote
David Eagleman
Just like a good drama, the human brain runs on conflict. View quote
David Eagleman
The three-pound organ in your skull - with its pink consistency of Jell-o - is an alien kind of computational material. It is composed of miniaturized, self-configuring parts, and it vastly outstrips anything we've dreamt of building. View quote
David Eagleman
As an undergraduate I majored in British and American literature at Rice University. View quote
David Eagleman
All creation necessarily ends in this: Creators, powerless, fleeing from the things they have wrought. (David Eagleman)
My lab and academic work fill my day from about 9 am to 7 p.m. Then I zoom out the lens to work on my other writing. View quote
David Eagleman
It is problematic to imagine yourself in the shoes of a criminal and conclude, "Well, I wouldn't have done that”-because if you weren't exposed to in utero cocaine, lead poisoning, or physical abuse, and he was, then you don't fit in his shoes. Even if you would like to imagine what it's like to be him, you won't be very good at it. View quote
David Eagleman
The brain is a complex system, but that doesn't mean it's incomprehensible. Our neural circuits were carved by natural selection to solve problems that our ancestors faced during our species' evolutionary history. Your brain has been molded by evolutionary pressures just as your spleen and eyes have been. And so has your consciousness. Consciousness developed because it was advantageous, but advantageous only in limited amounts. View quote
David Eagleman
Part of the scientific temperament is this tolerance for holding multiple hypotheses in mind at the same time. View quote
David Eagleman