In societies no less than individuals, acknowledging our limitations may ultimately be more humane than denying them.

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.

Love is not an option, it is the only option.

Street League Skateboarding is the premier professional skateboarding league in the world, with the biggest prize money in history.

In advanced practice there is a sense of commitment to the study. It is happy; it's never forced. It is a natural evolutionary process of an evolved being.

The advance of genetic engineering makes it quite conceivable that we will begin to design our own evolutionary progress.

Life is a matter of really tough choices.

The multiplier effect is a major feature of networks and flows. It arises regardless of the particular nature of the resource, be it goods, money, or messages.

Civilizations have come and gone and, in spite of our vaunted progress, I am tempted to ask again and again, 'To what purpose?'

If you don't love what you do, you won't do it with much conviction or passion.

Love makes us similar, it creates equality, it breaks down walls and eliminates distances. God did this with us.

It is proof of a bad cause when it is applauded by the mob.