I can explain my body and my brain, but there's something more. I can't explain my own existence - what makes me a unique human being.
John EcclesRead
The last thing that man will understand in nature is the performance of his brain.
Interpretation
The complexity of the human brain's functions is often the hardest to grasp in our understanding of nature.
In this quote, John Eccles suggests that despite our exploration and understanding of the natural world, the intricate workings of our own brains are the final frontier in our comprehension. This highlights the remarkable complexity of human cognition and the ongoing journey to decipher how our minds interpret and interact with the world around us.
In practice
In a neuroscience lecture discussing the intricacies of brain function.
I can explain my body and my brain, but there's something more. I can't explain my own existence - what makes me a unique human being.
A better understanding of the brain is certain to lead man to a richer comprehension both of himself, of his fellow man, and of society, and in fact of the whole world with its problems.
My practise as a scientist is atheistic. That is to say, when I set up an experiment I assume that no god, angel, or devil is going to interfere with its course; and this assumption has been justified by such success as I have achieved in my professional career. I should therefore be intellectually dishonest if I were not also atheistic in the affairs of the world. And I should be a coward if I did not state my theoretical views in public.
although science could pinpoint the exact spot in the brain that ignites rage, they had yet to identify the location that produces love.
There is no great invention, from fire to flying, which has not been hailed as an insult to some god.
Do not become archivists of facts. Try to penetrate to the secret of their occurrence, persistently search for the laws which govern them.
That which is not measurable is not science. That which is not physics is stamp collecting.
At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes-an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense.
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