Every Week I Get Letters From People

This Is The Hallmark Of A Robust Biological System: Political Parties Can Perish In A Tragic Accident And The Society Will Still Run, Sometimes With Little More Than A Hiccup To The System. It May Be That For Every Strange Clinical Case In Which Brain Damage Leads To A Bizarre Change In Behavior Or Perception, There Are Hundreds Of Cases In Which Parts Of The Brain Are Damaged With No Detectable Clinical Sign.

The Conscious Mind Is Not At The Center Of The Action In The Brain; Instead, It Is Far Out On A Distant Edge, Hearing But Whispers Of The Activity.

None Of The Individual Metal Hunks Of An Airplane Have The Property Of flight, But When They Are Attached Together In The Right Way, The Result Takes To The Air. A Thin Metal Bar Won't Do You Much Good If You're Trying To Control A Jaguar, But Several Of Them In Parallel Have The Property Of Containment. The Concept Of Emergent Properties Means That Something New Can Be Introduced That Is Not Inherent In Any Of The Parts.

Neuroscience Over The Next 50 Years Is Going To Introduce Things That Are Mind-blowing.

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, Your Neural Circuitry Has Been Working On It For Hours Or Days Or Years, Consolidating Information And Trying Out New Combinations. But You Take Credit Without Further Wonderment At The Vast, Hidden Machinery Behind The Scenes.