There is no memory or retentive faculty based on lasting impression. What we designate as memory is but increased responsiveness to repeated stimuli.
Interpretation
Memory is not a reliable retention of experiences, but rather a heightened response to familiar stimuli.
In this quote, Nikola Tesla reflects on the nature of memory, suggesting that what we commonly understand as memory is not a perfect recording of past events, but rather an enhanced ability to respond to familiar situations due to repeated exposure. This perspective challenges the idea of memory as an infallible storage of information, highlighting instead the fluid and responsive nature of how we recall experiences.
In practice
In a psychology class discussing the nature of memory and perception.
Even matter called inorganic, believed to be dead, responds to irritants and gives unmistakable evidence of a living principle within. Everything that exists, organic or inorganic, animated or inert, is susceptible to stimulus from the outside.
Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world.
Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly affected only by its immediate surrounding, the sphere of external influence extends to infinite distance.
The history of science shows that theories are perishable. With every new truth that is revealed we get a better understanding of Nature and our conceptions and views are modified.
The Secretary of Hygiene or Physical Culture will be far more important in the cabinet of the President of the United States who holds office in the year 2035 than the Secretary of War.
I am unwilling to accord to some small−minded and jealous individuals the satisfaction of having thwarted my efforts. These men are to me nothing more than microbes of a nasty disease. My project was retarded by laws of nature. The world was not prepared for it. It was too far ahead of time, but the same laws will prevail in the end and make it a triumphal success.
I refuse to accept the idea that the “isness” of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal “oughtness” that forever confronts him.
You are as you are, _x000D_ an indescribable message on the air.
Who most benefits from keeping marijuana illegal? The greatest beneficiaries are the major criminal organizations in Mexico and elsewhere that earn billions of dollars annually from this illicit trade - and who would rapidly lose their competitive advantage if marijuana were a legal commodity.
Here we meet, on the page, naked and unadorned: shorn of class, race, gender, sexual identity, age and nationality.
There is magic in my universe, but it's pretty low magic compared to other fantasies.
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat for it is momentary.
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