Idiot Brain Quotes

“What have we learned so far about the human brain? It messes with memories, it jumps at shadows, it's terrified of harmless things, it screws with our diet, our sleeping, our movement, it convinces us we're brilliant when we're not, it makes up half the stuff we perceive, it gets us to do irrational things when emotional, it causes us to make friends incredibly quickly and turn on them in an instant.
A worrying list. What's even more worrying, it does all of this when it's working properly.”
― Dean Burnett, The Idiot Brain: A Neuroscientist Explains What Your Head Is Really Up To

“The brain apparently thinks logic is a precious resource to be used only sparingly.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“I'm also part of the great conspiracy of global scientists to promote the myths of climate change, evolution, vaccination, and a spherical earth. After all, there's nobody on earth wealthier and more powerful than scientists, and they can't risk losing this exalted position by people finding out how the world really works.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Feeling in control makes most people feel secure and safe. It doesn’t matter how much actual control we have.
Every human is technically a meaningless sack of carbon clinging to a rock hurtling through the uncaring void around trillions of tonnes of nuclear fire, but that’s too big for a single human to be aware of.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“One of the brain's most prominent skills is the ability to ignore anything that becomes too predictable, no matter how important it may be”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Procrastination is motivation to do the wrong thing.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Sadly, the words "reliable" and "accurate" can rarely be applied to the workings of the brain, particularly for memory.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“As J. P. Gillard said in 1959, ‘An individual’s personality, then, is his unique pattern of traits.’ Note how it says ‘his’; this was the 1950s, and of course, women were allowed to have personalities only from the mid-1970s.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Or how about the fact that stress can actually increase your performance at a task? It’s a neurological process, not just “something people say.” Deadlines are one of the most common ways of inducing stress that provoke an increase in performance.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Overall, personality tests would be more useful if our personalities didn’t get in the way.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“So the more privileged and comfortable someone’s life is, the harder it is for them to appreciate the needs and issues of those worse off. But as long as we don’t do something stupid like put the most pampered people in charge of running countries, we should be OK. We”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Depression can be so bad that those experiencing it end up concluding that ending their life is the only viable option.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“It's a cruel irony that a desire for seeking risk may also cloud your ability to recognize it.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Deadlines are one of the most common ways of inducing stress that provoke an increase in performance.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Everything you are is a feature of your brain, and as such much of what your brain does is dedicated to making you look and feel as good as possible. ]...] For example by modifying your memories to make you feel better about yourself.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“في الكتاب الإبداعي للكاتب أوليفر ساكس الصادر عام ١٩٨٥ "الرجل الذي حَسِبَ زوجته قُبعة"، يصف ساكس مجموعة من مرضى الحُبسة الذين لا يستطيعون فهم اللغة المنطوقة، والذين يشاهدون خطبة للرئيس ويجدونها مضحكة جدًّا، وهذا بالتأكيد ليس قصده.

التفسير هو أن المرضى، بعد أن سُلبت منهم قدرتهم على فهم الكلمات، أصبحوا بارعين في إدراك التلميحات والإشارات غير اللفظية التي يتجاهلها معظم الناس، حيث تشغلهم الكلمات المنطوقة.

الرئيس، بالنسبة لهم، يكشف باستمرار عن أنه مخادع من خلال تشنجات الوجه اللا إرادية، ولغة الجسد، وإيقاع الكلام، والإيماءات المتقَنة وما إلى ذلك.

هذه الأشياء، بالنسبة لمريض الحبسة، هي أعلام حمراء كبيرة على الخداع.

وعندما يأتي ذلك من أكثر الرجال قوة في العالم، أمامك خياران: إما أن تبكي أو تضحك.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“logic" is one of the first casualties of drug use.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“The theory is that humor results when our expectations are violated. A verbal joke uses twisted logic, where events don't occur as we believe they should.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Next is "belonging"; humans are social creatures and need approval, support and affection (or at least interaction) from others. Solitary confinement in prisons is considered a serious punishment for a reason.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Procrastination is motivation to do the wrong thing (I should know, I had to disconnect my wifi to finish this book).”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“The brain is flexible and changes in response to what it experiences,”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Personality is that pattern of characteristic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguishes one person from another and that persists over time and situations.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“One of the generally accepted signs of intelligence is an awareness and acceptance of what you don't know. Good job.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Science itself exists thanks to our intelligence, and now we use science to figure out how our intelligence works? This is either very efficient or circular reasoning, I'm not smart enough to tell.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“The brain never makes anything easy for us.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Human memory isn't perfect, but it's good enough.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“short-term memories last about a minute, max, whereas long-term memories can and do stay with you your whole life.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“We've all met people who think they know best because they're older or have been doing something for longer. Working with these people can be a nightmare, like trying to write computer programs with someone who insists on using a typewriter because "that's how it's always been done." The reptile brain can be like that, derailing useful things by being incredibly obstinate.”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

“Every human is technically a meaningless sack of carbon clinging to a rock hurtling through the uncaring void around trillions of tons of nuclear fire, but that's too big for a single human to be aware of”
― Dean Burnett, Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To