Not a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares. Daniel Dennett More Quotes by Daniel Dennett More Quotes From Daniel Dennett I think that there are no forces on this planet more dangerous to us all than the fanaticisms of fundamentalism, of all the species: Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, as well as countless smaller infections. Is there a conflict between science and religion here? There most certainly is. Daniel Dennett buddhism religion thinking A scholar is just a library's way of making another library. Daniel Dennett library way knowledge I think many people are terribly afraid of being demoted by the Darwinian scheme from the role of authors and creators in their own right into being just places where things happen in the universe. Daniel Dennett roles people thinking Imagination is cheap as long as you don't have to worry about the details. Daniel Dennett imagination worry long There is a time for politeness and there is a time when you are obliged to be rude. Daniel Dennett politeness obliged rude We should get used to the idea that we'll probably never be able to find - and confirm - a good explanation of the ultimate origin of the universe, though I see no reason to believe that we can't press much further on this question than we have managed to date. Daniel Dennett able believe ideas Life itself is just a thin coat of paint on the planet, and we hold the paintbrush. Daniel Dennett coats paint life Whereas religions may serve a benign purpose by letting many people feel comfortable with the level of morality they themselves can attain, no religion holds its member to the high standards of moral responsibility that the secular world of science and medicine does! Daniel Dennett medicine responsibility people If I know better than you know what I am up to, it is only because I spend more time with myself than you do. Daniel Dennett more-time consciousness knows I think that what one can see from a Darwinian account is how the addition of culture in our species turns us into a very special sort of animal, an animal that can be a moral agent in a way that no other animal can be. Daniel Dennett special animal thinking Up till now, we can suppose, nervous systems solved the 'Now what do I do?' problem by a relatively simple balancing act between a strictly limited repertoire of actions - if not the famous four F's (fight, flee, feed, or mate), then a modest elaboration of them. Daniel Dennett four fighting simple Words are memes that can be pronounced. Daniel Dennett memes I have shown that those who deplore Artificial Intelligence are also those who deplore the evolutionary accounts of human mentality: if human minds are non-miraculous products of evolution, then they are, in the requisite sense, artifacts, and all their powers must have an ultimately mechanical explanation. We are descended from macros and made of macros, and nothing we can do is beyond the power of huge assemblies of macros. Daniel Dennett assembly evolution mind AI makes philosophy honest Daniel Dennett honest philosophy While we tend to conceive of the operations of the mind as unified and transparent, they're actually chaotic and opaque. There's no invisible boss in the brain, no central meaner, no unitary self in command of our activities and utterances. There's no internal spectator of a Cartesian theater in our heads to applaud the march of consciousness across its stage. Daniel Dennett boss self brain The kindly God who lovingly fashioned each and every one of us and sprinkled the sky with shining stars for our delight - that God is, like Santa Claus, a myth of childhood, not anything [that] a sane, undeluded adult could literally believe in. That God must either be turned into a symbol for something less concrete or abandoned altogether. Daniel Dennett stars sky believe Consciousness is cerebral celebrity--nothing more and nothing less. Those contents are conscious that persevere, that monopolize resources long enough to achieve certain typical and "symptomatic" effects--on memory, on the control of behavior and so forth. Daniel Dennett typical memories long People are afraid of being more ignorant than their children―especially, apparantly, their daughters. Daniel Dennett daughter children people In all mammalian species that have so far been carefully studied, the rate at which their members engage in the killing of conspecifics is several thousand times greater than the highest homicide rate in any American city. Daniel Dennett members killing cities Is he a dread genetic determinist, or a dread environmental determinist? He is neither, of course, for both these species of bogeyman are as mythical as werewolves. By increasing the information we have about the various causes of the constraints that limit our current opportunities, he has increased our powers to avoid what we want to avoid, prevent what we want to prevent. Knowledge of the roles of our genes, and the genes of the other species around us, is not the enemy of human freedom, but one of its best friends. Daniel Dennett environmental opportunity enemy
