Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a read more

Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. ('What else could it be?') I was amused to see that Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought that the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electro-magnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill, and I am told some of the ancient Greeks thought the brain functions like a catapult. At present, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer.

It is very good for a man to talk about what he does not understand; as long as he understands read more

It is very good for a man to talk about what he does not understand; as long as he understands that he does not understand it.

When scientific doctrines are mixed up with religious tenets, the same lifeless dogmatism will commonly benumb them both.

When scientific doctrines are mixed up with religious tenets, the same lifeless dogmatism will commonly benumb them both.

Perhaps even these things, one day, will be pleasing to remember. - Aenid.

Perhaps even these things, one day, will be pleasing to remember. - Aenid.

Do not trust your memory; it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip through it. - read more

Do not trust your memory; it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip through it. - The Heart's Domain.

Power concedes nothing without a demand.

Power concedes nothing without a demand.

There is only one step from fanaticism to barbarism.

There is only one step from fanaticism to barbarism.

Who shoots at the mid-day sun, though he be so sure he shall never hit the mark, yet as sure read more

Who shoots at the mid-day sun, though he be so sure he shall never hit the mark, yet as sure as he is, he shall shoot higher than he who aims at a bush.

We should listen first and foremost to our own experience...We should stop looking for saviors... Society has not existed for read more

We should listen first and foremost to our own experience...We should stop looking for saviors... Society has not existed for thousands of years because it had a succession of saviors. It's existed because it has institutions and processes through which people can realize their own goals.