If the cartoon were completely accurate, though, life would be a cacophany of spoinks.

Art works because it appeals to certain faculties of the mind. Music depends on details of the auditory system, painting and sculpture on the visual system. Poetry and literature depend on language.

Why are empirical questions about how the mind works so weighted down with political and moral and emotional baggage?

All our behaviours are a result of neurophysiological activity in the brain. There is no reason to believe there is any magic going on.

I suspect music is auditory cheesecake, an exquisite confection crafted to tickle the sensitive spots of... our mental faculties.

Evolutionary psychology is one of four sciences that are bringing human nature back into the picture.

Thanks to the redundancy of language, yxx cxn xndxrstxnd whxt x xm wrxtxng xvxn xf x rxplxcx xll thx vxwxls wxth xn "x" (t gts lttl hrdr f y dn't vn kn whr th vwls r)

Photography is a kind of virtual reality, and it helps if you can create the illusion of being in an interesting world.

Plants can't very well defend themselves by their behavior, so they resort to chemical warfare, and plants are saturated with toxins and irritants to deter creatures like us who want to eat them.

I would argue that nothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a precious and fragile gift.

Babies are born with the instinct to speak, the way spiders are born with the instinct to spin webs. You don't need to train babies to speak; they just do. But reading is different.

It matters not what my brain knows, but what my heart feels.

My mathematics is simple: one plus one = one.

We're Killers On The Keyboard

Have peace in knowing, dear ones, that we are all composed of energy. Energy never dies. It is always changing and transforming.

A zeal for the defence of their country led these heroes to the scene of action, though with a few men to attack a powerful army of experienced warriors.

I want my kids to be curious, to be interested in a lot of things, to be confident, and to feel they belong in any number of situations.

Oxford is Oxford: not a mere receptacle for youth, like Cambridge. Perhaps it wants its inmates to love it rather than to love one another.

It's my job to be better than the rest, and that's enough reason to go for me. It's my job to be better than the rest, and that makes the day for me.

There's no straighter road to success than exceeding expectations one day at a time.

Sometimes you want to fall on your knees and thank God in heaven for all the poor news reporting that goes on in the world.