With the arrival of humans, it has been said, the universe has suddenly become conscious of itself. This, truly, it the greatest mystery of all.

You cant just take an image and randomly distort it and call it art - although many people in La Jolla where I come from do precisely that.

There is no real independent self, aloof from other human beings, inspecting the world, inspecting other people. You are, in fact, connected not just via Facebook and Internet, you're actually quite literally connected by your neurons.

Here is a neuron that fires when I reach and grab something, but it also fires when I watch Joe reaching and grabbing something. ... It's as though this neuron is adopting the other person's point of view.

The brain abhors discrepancies.

Great art allows you to transcend your mortal frame and to reach for the stars. I think great science does the same thing.

Your conscious life is an elaborate after-the-fact rationalization of things you really do for other reasons.