The last 100 years of research into the human brain...sees the brain as an organ that works by physical principles just like the other organs in the body...our emotions and higher callings, such as religion, as well as our grubby low-level physical systems like stereo vision and motor control, are products of a machine.

In societies no less than individuals, acknowledging our limitations may ultimately be more humane than denying them.

Language mavens commonly confuse their own peeves with a worsening of the language.

We instinctively fear snakes, but we appear not to be afraid of fast cars, which are a real danger now. This suggests our emotions were shaped by our evolutionary environment not the one we grew up in.

The more you think about and interact with other people, the more you realize that it is untenable to privilege your interests over theirs, at least not if you want them to listen to you. You can’t say that my interests are special compared to yours any more than you can say that the particular spot that I am standing on is a unique part of the universe because I happen to be standing on it that very minute.

Why are empirical questions about how the mind works so weighted down with political and moral and emotional baggage?

People are under the impression that dictionaries legislate language. What a dictionary does is keep track of usages over time.