Rodolfo Llinas Quotes

• The neural processes underlying that which we call creativity have nothing to do with rationality. That is to say, if we look at how the brain generates creativity, we will see that it is not a rational process at all; creativity is not born out of reasoning.

  Rodolfo Llinas

  Creativity, Brain, Looks

  48 Copy quote

• We assume that we have free will and that we make decisions, but we don't. Neurons do. We decide that this sum total driving us is a decision we have made for ourselves. But it is not.

  Rodolfo Llinas

  Decision, Neurons, Driving

  "The Electric Brain". Interview with Lauren Aguirre, www.pbs.org. October 23, 2001.

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• Language changes only those aspects of our consciousness which are based on information, but not the feelings themselves. The words are as stones that can cause wounds or as caresses that becalm and that guide us, but the content of consciousness is intrinsic.

  Rodolfo Llinas

  Feelings, Stones, Information

  Source: www.cerebromente.org.br

  10 Copy quote

• Basically there are two types of animals: animals, and animals that have no brains; they are called plants. They don't need a nervous system because they don't move actively, they don't pull up their roots and run in a forest fire! Anything that moves actively requires a nervous system; otherwise it would come to a quick death.

  Rodolfo Llinas

  Running, Moving, Animal

  "The Electric Brain". The NOVA Interview, www.pbs.org. October 23, 2001.

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• Some people prefer to see the game in the television than to go to the stadium. With virtual reality this will go to be worse, but at the end the "real" reality will win, because a virtual meal is not the same thing as a real one!

  Rodolfo Llinas

  Real, Winning, Games

  Source: www.cerebromente.org.br

  6 Copy quote

• The Neurosciences do not exist exclusively to understand man's nature. They also serve a social function, such as in the treatment of the cerebral diseases or when helping us to have a more pleasant and constructive life. It is a thing that one could explore well.

  Rodolfo Llinas

  Men, Disease, Helping

  Source: www.cerebromente.org.br

  15 Copy quote

• The different political systems, religions and social habits demonstrate that the same brain can be tuned in different manners. But the tuning capacity is limited. We can never feel as a jaguar, for example. We can imagine a man who believes or who intends to be a jaguar, but to intend is not the same as to be. We can have other ideologies, but we will continue restricted by the nature of our brain and of our body.

  Rodolfo Llinas

  Believe, Men, Political

  Source: www.cerebromente.org.br

  11 Copy quote

• We [human beings] are two-legged omnivorous animals, and this means that we have many ecological niches, regarding the possible places where we can live. Therefore, we have to adapt to these different environments and we cannot predict, in a generic way, in which type of world we are going to live (cold as the North Pole or hot as Congo).

  Rodolfo Llinas

  Mean, Animal, Two

  6 Copy quote

• We no longer see the evolution of the nervous system, but that of a certain individual. The role of the memory is very important but... not as important as we believe. Most of the important things that we do don't depend on memory. To hear, to see, to touch, to feel happiness and pain; these are functions which are independent of memory; it is an a priori thing. Thus, for me, what memory does is to modify that a priori thing, and this it does in a very profound way.

  Rodolfo Llinas

  Memories, Pain, Believe

  Source: www.cerebromente.org.br

  4 Copy quote

• Structurally we should understand that one cannot think that the human brain is different from the brain of the other vertebrates. It is an important question, because we can investigate what is the difference between the brain of a mouse and ours, and of course the difference is enormous, in size and capacity.

  Rodolfo Llinas

  Thinking, Differences, Brain

  Source: www.cerebromente.org.br

  8 Copy quote

• The future of human relationships will be directly related to the cerebral functions. For this reason it is already a fundamental thing. In the past, and well until today, some South American countries have had a great neuropharmacological history, since the natives' times. It is necessary that we remind ourselves of the many licit and illicit drugs that were generated in our continent and that act on the brain.

  Rodolfo Llinas

  Country, Past, Drug

  Source: www.cerebromente.org.br

  4 Copy quote

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