Touching a Nerve Quotes

“My caution kicks in when I encounter either one of two sorts of dramatic theories: those that claim to have found the secret of consciousness, and those that claim that the brain mechanisms for consciousness can never be found.”
― Patricia S. Churchland, Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain

“You became conscious of precisely what you unconsciously intended to say only when you said it. You modify your speech depending on wether you are talking to child, a colleague, a student, or a dean. Not consiously, most probably. Paradoxically, speech is usually considered the case of conscious behavior - behavior for which we hold people responsoble. Certainly, it require consciousness: you cannot have a conversation while in deep sleep or in coma. Nevertheless, the activities that organize your speech output are not conscious activities. Speaking is a highly skilled business, relyling on uncounscious knowledge of precisely what to say and how.”
― Patricia S. Churchland, Touching a Nerve: Our Brains, Our Selves

“Why doesn’t the brain make it self-evident that it is doing all these things? “Oh, by the way, it is me, Brainsy—in here in your head. I am what allows you to maintain balance and chew your food; I am the reason you fall asleep or fall in love.” Nothing in the ancient environment of brain evolution would select for brains that could reveal themselves thus. Similarly, there is nothing in our current environment to select for kidneys or livers that announce their existence and modus operandi. They just work the way they evolved to work.”
― Patricia S. Churchland, Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain

“The data indicate that just before the eyes make their next jump (saccade), your nonconscious attention scans the next chunk, selects a meaty word for your center of gaze to light on (a word like murder, not a word like indeed), and guides the eye movement accordingly.”
― Patricia S. Churchland, Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain

“Statistically, male-to-female transsexuals are about 2.6 times as common as female-to-male transsexuals.”
― Patricia S. Churchland, Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain

“the masculinizing of the gonads (making testes, penis, and prostate) occurs before the masculinizing of the brain. Owing to variability in the pathways controlled by genes and the interactions among the items in the suite of neurochemicals, sometimes the masculinizing of the brain does not follow the typical path and may be incomplete in various ways. You could have male genitalia and a female brain.”
― Patricia S. Churchland, Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain

“The great advantage with nay-saying is that it leaves lots of time for golf.”
― Patricia S. Churchland, Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain