You are more likely to believe that a statement is true if you have heard it before - whether or not it is actually true. David Eagleman More Quotes by David Eagleman More Quotes From David Eagleman Our ignorance of the cosmos is too vast to commit to atheism, and yet we know too much to commit to a particular religion. A third position, agnosticism, is often an uninteresting stance in which a person simply questions whether his traditional religious story (say, a man with a beard on a cloud) is true or not true. But with Possibilianism I’m hoping to define a new position - one that emphasizes the exploration of new, unconsidered possibilities. Possibilianism is comfortable holding multiple ideas in mind; it is not interested in committing to any particular story. David Eagleman ignorance religious men There is a looming chasm between what your brain knows and what your mind is capable of accessing. David Eagleman chasms mind brain Our reality depends on what our biology is up to. David Eagleman depends biology reality There are always wonderful mysteries to confront. David Eagleman mystery wonderful Since we live in the heads of those who remember us, we lose control of our lives and become who they want us to be. David Eagleman our-lives want remember The left hemisphere acts as an "interpreter," watching the actions and behaviors of the body and assigning a coherent narrative to these events. And the left hemisphere works this way even in normal, intact brains. Hidden programs drive actions, and the left hemisphere makes justifications. This idea of retrospective storytelling suggests that we come to know our own attitudes and emotions, at least partially, by inferring them from observations of our own behavior. David Eagleman brain attitude ideas We're trapped on this very thin slice of perception ... But even at that slice of reality that we call home, we're not seeing most of what's going on. David Eagleman perception home reality The deep secret of the brain is that not only the spinal cord but the entire central nervous system works this way: internally generated activity is modulated by sensory input. In this view, the difference between being awake and being asleep is merely that the data coming in from the eyes anchors the perception. David Eagleman data differences eye After all, across the population there are slight differences in brain function, and sometimes these translate directly into different ways of experiencing the world. And each individual believes his way is reality. David Eagleman differences believe reality When a male vole repeatedly mates with a female, a hormone called vasopressin is released in his brain. The vasopressin binds to receptors in a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, and the binding mediates a pleasurable feeling that becomes associated with that female. This locks in the monogamy, which is known as pair-bonding. If you block this hormone, the pair-bonding goes away. David Eagleman block brain feelings Imbalance of reason and emotion may explain the tenacity of religion in societies: world religions are optimized to tap into the emotional networks, and great arguments of reason amount to little against such magnetic pull. David Eagleman reason-and-emotion world-religions emotional The drives you take for granted ("I'm a hetero/homosexual," "I'm attracted to children/adults," "I'm aggressive/not aggressive," and so on) depend on the intricate details of your neural machinery. David Eagleman details adults children It is only through us that God lives. When we abandon him, he dies. David Eagleman god-life abandon dies All activity in the brain is driven by other activity in the brain, in a vastly complex, interconnected network. David Eagleman activity driven brain I call myself a Possibilian: I'm open to...ideas that we don't have any way of testing right now. David Eagleman faith way ideas Some men may be genetically inclined to have and hold a single partner, while some may not. In the near future, young women who stay current with the scientific literature may demand genetic tests of their boyfriends to assess how likely they are to make faithful husbands. David Eagleman faithful husband men Your brain is built of cells called neurons and glia - hundreds of billions of them. Each one of these cells is as complicated as a city. David Eagleman cells cities brain I spent my adult life as a scientist, and science is, essentially, the most successful approach we have to try and understand the vast mysteries around. David Eagleman adults successful trying What a life in science really teaches you is the vastness of our ignorance. David Eagleman vastness teach ignorance In the traditionally taught view of perception, data from the sensorium pours into the brain, works its way up the sensory hierarchy, and makes itself seen, heard, smelled, tasted, felt - "perceived." But a closer examination of the data suggests this is incorrect. The brain is properly thought of as a mostly closed system that runs on its own internally generated activity. David Eagleman data views running
