It's surprising that the world is understandable to the extent that it is.

Many of the projects that we do that appear quite successful, it's actually often the second or third time we've given it a try.

I worry that we don't have a very good definition of consciousness yet which makes it hard to tackle.

Synthesize new ideas constantly. Never read passively. Annotate, model, think, and synthesize while you read, even when you're reading what you conceive to be introductory stuff. That way, you will always aim towards understanding things at a resolution fine enough for you to be creative.

The skill-providers want to have more impact and solve problems; the problem people want new tools to get their problems solved.

I think the definition will change as we learn more, but my working definition of solving the brain is: one, we can model, maybe in a computer, the processes that generate things like thoughts and feelings, and two, we can understand how to cure brain disorders, like Alzheimer's and epilepsy. Those are my two driving goals. One is more human-condition oriented, and one more clinical.

It's actually kind of weird that we can comprehend the law of gravity, or that we can understand quantum mechanics, enough at least to make computers.