Without goals the very concept of intelligence is meaningless

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.

On the path to Conquer the throne, some of your pawns must die...If your eyes aim the big kill, you must learn to eat humble pie.

Thought isn't a form of energy. So how on Earth can it change material processes? That question has still not been answered.

A good laugh makes any interview or any conversation so much better.

I never really told anybody that I'm a rapper. I wasn't walking around being like, "Yo, check out my mixtape!" It was more of a secret grind.

I performed in a bowling alley before while people were still bowling. Cut the check, and I will perform anywhere.

I have an innate instinct for knowing what's going to work.

By the time I was 12 or 13, I felt that I was special, because I could play the guitar and write songs.

Coal research and development provides huge benefits for the nation, and pay for itself many times over through taxes flowing back to the Treasury from expanded economic activity.

The world is polarizing over religion. It is getting both more religious and less religious at the same time.

As a developing musician, skiffle became a platform for me to start playing music.