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It's natural to think that living things must be the handiwork of a designer. But it was also natural to think that the sun went around the earth. Ove...more

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Art works because it appeals to certain faculties of the mind. Music depends on details of the auditory system, painting and sculpture on the visual s...more

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A...reason we are so-so scientists is that our brains were shaped for fitness, not for truth. Sometimes truth is adaptive, but sometimes it is not.

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Cognitive psychology has shown that the mind best understands facts when they are woven into a conceptual fabric, such as a narrative, mental map, or ...more

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Many people think that the theory of the selfish gene says that “animals try to spread their genes.” That misstates the facts and it misstates the the...more

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Perhaps we should rejoice that people’s emotions aren’t designed for the good of the group. Often the best way to benefit one’s group is to displace, ...more

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A design can excel at one challenge only by compromising at others.

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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 modu...more

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Plato said that we are trapped inside a cave and know the world only through the shadows it casts on the wall. The skull is our cave, and mental repre...more