I think of the brain as a computational device: It has a bunch of little components that perform calculations on some small aspect of the problem, and another part of the brain has to stitch it all together, like a tapestry or a quilt.
Interpretation
The brain functions like a complex computational device, processing information through various components that collaborate to create a cohesive understanding.
In this quote, Daniel Levitin likens the brain to a computational device, emphasizing that its various parts work in unison to process and integrate information. Just like a tapestry or quilt is made up of different pieces, the brain creates a comprehensive view of reality by weaving together calculations and insights from its diverse components. This analogy highlights the intricate and collaborative nature of mental processes.
In practice
In a science class discussion about brain function, one could reference this quote to illustrate the complexity of neural processes.
As soon as you hear a proposition, the creative brain in humans assumes for the moment that it's true, and starts trying to find evidence. It's what computer scientists in the old days used to call 'Fifo:' first in, first out. The first piece of information that gets in has a privileged position, even if it's misinformation.
What music is better able to do than language is to represent the complexity of human emotional states.
Information overload refers to the notion that we're trying to take in more than the brain can handle.
That walk around the block, that fresh air, is going to help you work more quickly and effectively when you get back.
There are a lot of books about how to get organized and a lot of books about how to be better and more productive at business, but I don't know of one that grounds any of these in the science.
There's an ancient connection between movement and music. Most languages don't make a distinction between the words 'music' and 'dance.' And we can see that in the brain. When people are lying perfectly still but listening to music, the neurons in the motor cortex are firing.
We put water down into the earth to push up gas, then we say, 'Ooh, we're having a water crisis.' This is foolishness, and this kind of foolishness, where we try to excuse human behavior, is dangerous.
Science is organized common sense where many a beautiful theory was killed by an ugly fact.
This field is not necessarily glamorous, nor does it often produce immediate results, but it seeks to increase our basic understanding of living processes.
Most man only care for science so far as they get a living by it, and that they worship even error when it affords them a subsistence.
Still, it is an error to argue in front of your data. You find yourself insensibly twisting them round to fit your theories.
So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He can't even get to the office without undergoing the agonies of the damned, but give him a little metal, a few chemicals, some wire and twenty or thirty billion dollars and vroom! there he is, up on a rock a quarter of a million miles up in the sky.
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