Science is a way to not fool ourselves.
Carl SaganRead
My fundamental premise about the brain is that its workings - what we sometimes call "mind" - are a consequence of its anatomy and physiology, and nothing more.
Interpretation
The brain's functioning is determined solely by its physical structure and biological processes.
In this quote, Carl Sagan emphasizes the idea that the mind is not separate from the brain but is instead a direct result of the brain's anatomy and physiology. This perspective underscores the importance of biological science in understanding consciousness and cognitive processes, suggesting that our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors stem from the physical mechanisms of the brain.
In practice
In a neuroscience lecture discussing the relationship between brain anatomy and behavior.
Science is a way to not fool ourselves.
In more than one respect, the exploring of the Solar System and homesteading other worlds constitutes the beginning, much more than the end, of history.
How smart does a chimpanzee have to be before killing him constitutes murder?
The hole in the ozone layer is a kind of skywriting. At first it seemed to spell out our continuing complacency before a witch's brew of deadly perils. But perhaps it really tells of a newfound talent to work together to protect the global environment.
There is a reward structure in science that is very interesting: Our highest honors go to those who disprove the findings of the most revered among us. So Einstein is revered not just because he made so many fundamental contributions to science, but because he found an imperfection in the fundamental contribution of Isaac Newton.
The simplest thought, like the concept of the number one, has an elaborate logical underpinning.
Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.
The world little knows how many of the thoughts and theories which have passed through the mind of a scientific investigator, have been crushed in silence and secrecy by his own severe criticism and adverse examination!
Arguably, my student status and perhaps my gender were also my downfall with respect to the Nobel Prize, which was awarded to Professor Antony Hewish and Professor Martin Ryle. At the time, science was still perceived as being carried out by distinguished men.
In the good old days physicists repeated each other's experiments, just to be sure. Today they stick to FORTRAN, so that they can share each other's programs, bugs included.
I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the Scriptures, but with experiments, and demonstrations.
Science offers the chance to cure debilitating and once-intractable disorders like hemophilia and sickle cell disease. But we need to make sure the ability to access these therapies, or the risk that someone can be locked out of them, doesn't widen gaps between the rich and poor.
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