{"quotes":[{"text":"Thinking is computation, I claim, but that does not mean that the computer is a good metaphor for the mind. The mind is a set of modules, but the modules are not encapsulated boxes or circumscribed swatches on the surface of the brain. The organization of our mental modules comes from our genetic program, but that does not mean that there is a gene for every trait or that learning is less important than we used to think. The mind is an adaptation designed by natural selection, but that does not mean that everything we think, feel, and do is biologically adaptive. We evolved from apes, but that does not mean we have the same minds as apes. And the ultimate goal of natural selection is to propagate genes, but that does not mean that the ultimate goal of people is to propagate genes.","author":"Steven Pinker","tags":["evolution","evolutionary-psychology","mind","psychology"],"id":8993,"author_id":"Steven+Pinker"},{"text":"Computation has finally demystified mentalistic terms. Beliefs are inscriptions in memory, desires are goal inscriptions, thinking is computation, perceptions are inscriptions triggered by sensors, trying is executing operations triggered by a goal.","author":"Steven Pinker","tags":["cognitive-science","evolutionary-psychology","intelligence"],"id":12890,"author_id":"Steven+Pinker"},{"text":"Tis from the resemblance of the external actions of animals to those we ourselves perform, that we judge their internal likewise to resemble ours; and the same principle of reasoning, carry'd one step further, will make us conclude that since our internal actions resemble each other, the causes, from which they are deriv'd, must also be resembling. When any hypothesis, therefore, is advanc'd to explain a mental operation, which is common to men and beasts, we must apply the same hypothesis to both.","author":"David Hume","tags":["cognitive-science","evolution","evolutionary-psychology","mental"],"id":34033,"author_id":"David+Hume"},{"text":"The typical imperative from biology is not 'Thou shalt... ,' but 'If ... Then ... Else.","author":"Steven Pinker","tags":["biology","evolutionary-psychology"],"id":36854,"author_id":"Steven+Pinker"},{"text":"The religion I am talking about here is plain everyday humanism. That’s exactly what the person named Jesus attempted to spread, but due to innate psychological reasons, his pupils ended up constructing yet another orthodox circle with its own distinct beliefs, ideals and fantasies.","author":"Abhijit Naskar","tags":["beliefs","brainy","christ","christianity","christians","compassion","consciousness","evolutionary-psychology","fantasies","gods","human-mind","human-nature","ideals","jesus","jesus-christ","jesus","love","love-thy-neighbor","neurotheology","philosophy","prophets","religion","religions","religious-diversity","science-and-religion","science-of-human-nature","science-of-mind","self-preservation","truth"],"id":47268,"author_id":"Abhijit+Naskar"},{"text":"Good and evil are both within us. And when our primitive ancestors humanized these natural qualities of the mind, they got two completely opposite supernatural characters. One was the merciful lord almighty and the other was the wicked devil.","author":"Abhijit Naskar","tags":["aboriginal-culture","ancient-culture","brainy","brainy-life-lessons","evolution","evolutionary-biology","evolutionary-psychology","life","pearls-of-wisdom","primitive-human-behavior","primitive-men","primitive-psyche","primitive-religion","primitive-urges","religion-and-science","religious","social-psychology","truth","truth"],"id":60767,"author_id":"Abhijit+Naskar"},{"text":"Every single human being is neurologically predisposed to be biased in various walks of life. It is biologically impossible to be absolutely free from all biases, nevertheless, the more a person rigorously trains the self to be rational and conscientious, the more that self becomes strong enough to keep the biases in check, never to let them run rampant over the psyche.","author":"Abhijit Naskar","tags":["bias","biases","brainy","conscience","evolutionary-psychology","human-mind","human-nature","mind","neuropsychology","neuroscience","primitive-human-behavior","rational","reasoning","science-of-mind","truth","wisdom"],"id":75370,"author_id":"Abhijit+Naskar"},{"text":"People who are depressed at the thought that all our motives are selfish are [confused]. They have mixed up ultimate causation (why something evolved by natural selection) with proximate causation (how the entity works here and now). [A] good way to understand the logic of natural selection is to imagine that genes are agents with selfish motives. [T]he genes have metaphorical motives — making copies of themselves — and the organisms they design have real motives. But they are not the same motives. Sometimes the most selfish thing a gene can do is wire unselfish motives into a human brain — heartfelt, unstinting, deep-in-the-marrow unselfishness. The love of children (who carry one's genes into posterity), a faithful spouse (whose genetic fate is identical to one's own), and friends and allies (who trust you if you're trustworthy) can be bottomless and unimpeachable as far as we humans are concerned (proximate level), even if it is metaphorically self-serving as far as the genes are concerned (ultimate level). Combine this with the common misconception that the genes are a kind of essence or core of the person, and you get a mongrel of Dawkins and Freud: the idea that the metaphorical motives of the genes are the deep, unconscious, ulterior motives of the person. That is an error.","author":"Steven Pinker","tags":["altruism","egoism","evolution","evolutionary-psychology","gene-centered-evolution","gene-centered-natural-selection","natural-selection","proximate-cause","selfish-gene","selfish-gene-theory","selfishness","ultimate-cause"],"id":82730,"author_id":"Steven+Pinker"},{"text":"We humans are the gods of this planet. And we also have created Superior Gods than us, to have a sense of security.","author":"Abhijit Naskar","tags":["brainy","evolution","evolution","evolutionary-psychology","god","god","philosophy-of-science","religion","science-and-religion","truth","wisdom"],"id":88072,"author_id":"Abhijit+Naskar"},{"text":"Litterature provides us with the opportunity to escape into fictional worlds that are ultimately rooted in human universals shaped by common biological forces.","author":"Gad Saad","tags":["culture","evolutionary-psychology"],"id":98755,"author_id":"Gad+Saad"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":61,"pages":7,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}