Quotes by David Eagleman, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain

“.. we are not conscious of most things until we ask ourselves questions about them”

“Imagine for a moment that we are nothing but the product of billions of years of molecules coming together and ratcheting up through natural selection, that we are composed only of highways of flui...”

“There is a looming chasm between what your brain knows and what your mind is capable of accessing.”

“As Gazzaniga put it, "these findings all suggest that the interpretive mechanism of the left hemisphere is always hard at work, seeking the meaning of events. It is constantly looking for order and...”

“You gleefully say, I just thought of something!, when in fact your brain performed an enormous amount of work before your moment of genius struck. When an idea is served up from behind the scenes, ...”

“If you ever feel lazy or dull, take heart: youre the busiest, brightest thing on the planet.”

“Because vision appears so effortless, we are like fish challenged to understand water.”

“Evolve solutions; when you find a good one, don't stop.”

“We are not at the center of ourselves, but instead like the Earth in the Milky Way, and the Milky Way in the universe far out on a distant edge, hearing little of what is transpiring.”

“Societies would _not_ be better off if everyone were like Mr Spock, all rationality and no emotion. Instead, a balance - a teaming up of the internal rivals - is optimal for brains. ... Some balanc...”

“As Carl Jung put it, In each of us there is another whom we do not know. As Pink Floyd sang, Theres someone in my head, but its not me.”

“Youre not perceiving what's out there. You're perceiving whatever your brain tells you.”

“If an epileptic seizure is focused in a particular sweet spot in the temporal lobe, a person wont have motor seizures, but instead something more subtle. The effect is something like a cognitive se...”

“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 di...”

“Instead of reality being passively recorded by the brain, it is actively constructed by it.”

“Behavior is the outcome of the battle among internal systems.”

“We are not at the center of ourselves, but instead — like the Earth in the Milky Way, and the Milky Way in the universe — far out on a distant edge, hearing little of what is transpiring.”

“If you ever feel lazy or dull, take heart: you’re the busiest, brightest thing on the planet.”

“You gleefully say, “I just thought of something!”, when in fact your brain performed an enormous amount of work before your moment of genius struck. When an idea is served up from behind the scenes...”

“As Carl Jung put it, “In each of us there is another whom we do not know.” As Pink Floyd sang, “There’s someone in my head, but it’s not me.”