Quotes by Neuroscientists - Page 17

The perception of reality is something that is constructed by the human mind based on its own needs and knacks.
Abhijit Naskar
When the conscience runs pure and strong in the heart of thinking humanity, there is not power in any fundamentalism to take hold of the human civilization and drag it back to the medieval days of barbarianism.
Abhijit Naskar
Human nature is a combination of modern conscience and ancient primitiveness. As the creation of the human mind in a state of transcendence, all scriptures are also a fusion of human conscience and gruesome primitiveness.
Abhijit Naskar
The human mind has a primordial affinity towards ideas of miracles and mysticism, especially, in times of weakness.
Abhijit Naskar
By nature, that mind is easily fooled by supernatural mysticism. It is extremely gullible. And no matter how much we the civilized human beings advance in the fields of modern sciences, there is always a part of us, that tries to allure us with magical nonsense, because that nonsense has been with us since the birth of humanity.
Abhijit Naskar
Now you know that the fascinating phenomenon of love has nothing to do with the supernatural entity known as Cupid, but everything to do with neurochemistry. Likewise, divinity is a cerebral creation, not a supernatural one. And it has been long since thinking humanity has learnt that love is a majestic creation of the brain, yet that knowledge hasn’t made love be deemed any less glorious. Then why should it threaten the religious believer to learn that divinity as well is a natural creation of the brain!
Abhijit Naskar
It has been long since thinking humanity has learnt that love is a majestic creation of the brain, yet that knowledge hasn’t made love be deemed any less glorious. Then why should it threaten the religious believer to learn that divinity as well is a natural creation of the brain!
Abhijit Naskar
Christ’s public life extended only over three years, and for this he had been silently training his mind for around thirty years. For years he had been breaking all the sociologically imposed ties of religious fundamentalism. For years he had been working in solitude to become liberated from the manacles of dogmatic bondage. And it is in the solitude that legends are born, and idiots are born in packs.
Abhijit Naskar
All these stories of Janamsakhi were like an artistic instrument that was yielded more to spread Nanak’s spiritual sovereignty as a mystical prophet than as an effective teacher in flesh and blood. In the midst of ignorance and mystical craving, they provided a simple method to guide people, or rather allure them to a newly formed religious path by sermonizing through stories of mystical non-sense.
Abhijit Naskar
All religions are mere echoes of this one great religion of Humanism.
Abhijit Naskar
We scientists perceive it as the Truth that will give us absolute understanding of the universe – which is impossible at the moment for a young species like us. On the other hand, the mystics perceive the Ultimate Truth, to be the attainment of Absolute Divinity, which all the religious giants experienced. But this attainment, is nowhere near the actual Ultimate Truth – it is only a subjective experience of the mind, evoked by specific internal and external stimuli.
Abhijit Naskar
Nanak’s encounter of God and God’s court was in fact a profound hallucinatory Near-Death Experience caused by drowning that strengthened his pre-conceived notion of a rational, compassionate and unorthodox society.
Abhijit Naskar
The human has not one but two births – first, when a person is born from the mother’s womb, and second, when that person rises from the socio-culturally imposed cocoon of prejudices and ignorance.
Abhijit Naskar
Mysticism and supernaturalism are the descendants of ignorance and fear.
Abhijit Naskar
In the society of thinking humanity, the natural law of trust should be - In I, I trust.
Abhijit Naskar
Truth, independent of the Self, is irrelevant to the biological existence of human life.
Abhijit Naskar
Every single phenomenon in the world, has a physical explanation underneath it. Finding the explanation depends on how far you are willing to go.
Abhijit Naskar
The salvation of the species, lies in knowing the Self – it lies in contributing to the wellbeing of the Selves of others.
Abhijit Naskar
The mystical non-sense of afterlife indeed gives solace to the mind in times of weakness, but why should the mind let its weakness be the fuel for primitiveness in the first place!
Abhijit Naskar
There is nothing ideal in Nature, because it was not created by some sort of ideal Almighty Being with perfect peerless craftsmanship. Nature as it is, has evolved through millions of years out of the biological drive for survival.
Abhijit Naskar
Brutality goes hand in hand with orthodoxy, be it Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Atheistic or any other.
Abhijit Naskar
The sacred texts of human history from all over the world, can never be perceived by the rational mind as texts of historical accuracy. They can only be a glaring representation of the traditions and ideals of the people. Now, it is up to the rational mind, to analyze those texts and thereafter consume the good elements from them, while discarding the rest.
Abhijit Naskar
Changing the spelling of one's name to ensure success, performing rituals for good luck, wearing colored gem stones for success in business – all these fall into the same category of psychological reinforcement. Hence, emerged the blood-sucking professions of astrology, palmistry, vastushastra, numerology etc. The very existence of these fraudulent professions is predicated on the fear and anxiety of vulnerable masses. Thus, a person’s superstitious beliefs become the tool of exploitation in the hands of ruthless fraudsters.
Abhijit Naskar
It is all about the trade of ignorance. And India is such a bronze-age nation that is filled with these trades (astrology, palm reading, vastushashtra and others).
Abhijit Naskar
Common people tend to term any kind of bizarre phenomenon as “paranormal” or “supernatural”. They often exaggerate it as the work of the Gods. Behind this belief is nothing but primitive ignorance. Social progress means that people must (a necessity, not a luxury) align their beliefs and behavior to new knowledge and understanding of nature.
Abhijit Naskar
Neuroscientists rarely have to grapple with the issue of presentism versus existentialism. But in practice, neuroscientists are implicitly presentists. They view the past, present, and future as fundamentally distinct, as the brain makes decisions in the present, based on the memories of the past, to enhance our well being in the future. But despite its intuitive appeal, presentism is the underdog theory in physics and philosophy.
Dean Buonomano
A sex worker deserves a billion times more respect, than the mystical fraudsters of the society, such as astrologers, psychics and tarot card readers.
Abhijit Naskar
No Lord Almighty created the humans out of personal will. Creationism is simply a myth created by the weak and ignorant humans out of a psychological need to have a sense of eternal security.
Abhijit Naskar
Sophistication is not science people, simplicity is.
Abhijit Naskar
Science is the most effective, efficient and magnificent path that leads towards the salvation of humankind.
Abhijit Naskar
Progress of the human society is predicated upon the proper functioning of a key element of the human mind, that is reasoning.
Abhijit Naskar
I am a monk at heart - a scientist at brain - a philosopher at conscience.
Abhijit Naskar
There is a looming chasm between what your brain knows and what your mind is capable of accessing.
David Eagleman
Consciousness is our gateway to experience: It enables us to recognize Van Gogh’s starry skies, be enraptured by Beethoven’s Fifth, and stand in awe of a snowcapped mountain. Yet consciousness is subjective, personal, and famously difficult to examine.
Daniel Bor
Our novice runs the risk of failure without additional traits: a strong inclination toward originality, a taste for research, and a desire to experience the incomparable gratification associated with the act of discovery itself.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal
The well-being of a neuron depends on its ability to communicate with other neurons. Studies have shown that electrical and chemical stimulation from both a neuron's inputs and its targets support vital cellular processes. Neurons unable to connect effectively with other neurons atrophy. Useless, an abandoned neuron will die.
Lisa Genova
The neural processes underlying that which we call creativity have nothing to do with rationality. That is to say, if we look at how the brain generates creativity, we will see that it is not a rational process at all; creativity is not born out of reasoning.
Rodolfo R. Llinás
Although we credit God with designing man, it turns out He's not sufficiently skilled to have done so. In point of fact, He unintentionally knocked over the first domino by creating a palette of atoms with different shapes. Electron clouds bonded, molecules bloomed, proteins embraced, and eventually cells formed and learned how to hang on to one another like lovebirds. He discovered that by simmering the Earth at the proper distance from the Sun, it instinctively sprouted with life. He's not so much a creator as a molecule tinkerer who enjoyed a stroke of luck: He simply set the ball rolling by creating a smorgasbord of matter, and creation ensued.
David Eagleman
If music serves to convey feelings through the interaction of physical gestures and sound, the musician needs his brain state to match the emotional state he is trying to express. Although the studies haven't been performed yet, I'm willing to bet that when B.B. King is playing the blues and when he is feeling the blues, the neural signatures are very similar. (Of course there will be differences, too, and part of the scientific hurdle will be subtracting out the processes involved in issuing motor commands and listening to music, versus just sitting on a chair, head in hands, and feeling down.) And as listeners, there is every reason to believe that some of our brain states will match those of the musicians we are listening to.
Daniel J. Levitin
What are the chances that we will one day discover that DNA has absolutely nothing to do with inheritance? They are effectively zero.
Sam Harris
If a rat is a good model for your emotional life, you're in big trouble.
Robert M. Sapolsky
Any man could, if he were so inclined, be the sculptor of his own brain.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal
I love science, and it pains me to think that so many are terrified of the subject or feel that choosing science means you cannot also choose compassion, or the arts, or be awed by nature. Science is not meant to cure us of mystery, but to reinvent and reinvigorate it.
Robert M. Sapolsky
How can a three-pound mass of jelly that you can hold in your palm imagine angels, contemplate the meaning of infinity, and even question its own place in the cosmos? Especially awe inspiring is the fact that any single brain, including yours, is made up of atoms that were forged in the hearts of countless, far-flung stars billions of years ago. These particles drifted for eons and light-years until gravity and change brought them together here, now. These atoms now form a conglomerate- your brain- that can not only ponder the very stars that gave it birth but can also think about its own ability to think and wonder about its own ability to wonder. With the arrival of humans, it has been said, the universe has suddenly become conscious of itself. This, truly, it the greatest mystery of all.
V.S. Ramachandran
We Neuroscientists have come a long way in proving that God is neither a Delusion nor an Almighty Being watching over life on Earth. God is the Event Horizon of Human Consciousness. I termed this state of attaining God, as 'Absolute Unity Qualia'.
Abhijit Naskar
There is no such thing as Hardcore Philosophy or Hardcore Science. Real Science and Real Philosophy do not destroy each other, they simply fulfil and enrich each other.
Abhijit Naskar
From all aspects of human perception, you truly are your brain.
Abhijit Naskar
Before I was a Scientist, I was a Monk. And before I was a Monk, I was a naive young mind with ever- flowing streams of questions. And one of those questions, that always used to create intense ripples of curiosity in my psyche, was - Does God exist? And has anyone seen or experienced him?
Abhijit Naskar
A rational human being of the civilized world would be like the swan that can draw the milk from a mixture of milk and water, leaving aside the water.
Abhijit Naskar
The divinity you seek is born with you.
Abhijit Naskar
Realization of your inner divinity is the scientific religion of thinking humanity.
Abhijit Naskar
Time couldn’t kill me a century ago, and it won’t in all the centuries ahead. I am the Philosophy that has been there since the birth of human intellect. And I shall live on forever through the inner cosmos of billions of generations, yet to come, while enriching every single soul it touches with its ever-glowing and flourishing purity.
Abhijit Naskar
I am the bridge that connects these two ever- separated banks of human understanding.
Abhijit Naskar
Every man is subconsciously promiscuous, but it is the conscious mind that keeps those primordial urges in check. A healthy brain creates a healthy mind, which keeps your relationship strong, safe and healthy.
Abhijit Naskar
Neglect of women is the major cause for the society’s downfall. The man and the woman are the two wheels of the society. If either one becomes defective, the society cannot make progress. There will be hope for the well-being of the entire world only if the humans, men and women alike, stop deeming the women as some kind of inferior creatures. We, the responsible citizens of the world can build a better future for the entire species, only by improving the condition of the women.
Abhijit Naskar
Everything that humans have achieved until now, were once merely an imagination in someone’s head.
Abhijit Naskar
Shred the fake mask of humility into pieces. And put on the mask of arrogance if needed.
Abhijit Naskar
You’ll feel afraid at times. You’ll feel weak at times. But remember, fear and weakness are not your enemies. They are forms of evolutionary wisdom in the face of danger. Take some time to assess the situation and shake the weakness and fear off your limbic system.
Abhijit Naskar
At times, look back towards your ancient days, drink deep from the eternal fountain of wisdom long gone, and then look ahead.
Abhijit Naskar
Live every single moment of your life, for the one thing that is most precious to you.
Abhijit Naskar