“feelings are “false” or perhaps “illusory” if they lead the organism astray—” — Robert Wright Feelings Copy Share Image
Giving men marriage tips is a little like offering Vikings a free booklet titled How Not to Pillage. — Robert Wright Giving Copy Share Image
“A female in a high-MPI species may seek signs of generosity, trustworthiness, and, especially, an enduring commitment to her in particular.” — Robert Wright Female Copy Share Image
“Imagine if our negative feelings, or at least lots of them, turned out to be illusions, and we could dispel them by… — Robert Wright Illusions Copy Share Image
“Buddha believed that the less you judge things—including the contents of your mind—the more clearly you’ll see them, and the less deluded… — Robert Wright Buddha Copy Share Image
“For a species low in male parental investment, the basic dynamic of courtship, as we’ve seen, is pretty simple: the male really… — Robert Wright Courtship Copy Share Image
“And don’t feel like you’re committing a felony-level violation of Buddhist dogma just because you think of yourself as being a self.” — Robert Wright Buddhism Copy Share Image
“Maybe it shouldn’t surprise us that Buddhism, with all its early austerity, was founded by a man who, as a member of… — Robert Wright Buddhism Copy Share Image
“The gratification of curiosity rather frees us from uneasiness than confers pleasure; we are more pained by ignorance than delighted by instruction.” — Robert Wright Curiosity Copy Share Image
Next time you see an unblemished expanse of grass, think about the chemicals that probably got dumped in your vicinity to create… — Robert Wright Copy Share Image
“So if meditation did liberate you from obedience to these feelings, it would be, in a certain sense, dispelling an illusion—the illusion… — Robert Wright Meditation Copy Share Image
“They will, on the one hand, have sex with just about anything that moves, given an easy chance, like males in a… — Robert Wright Copy Share Image
“Perhaps the most legitimately dispiriting thing about reciprocal altruism is that it is a misnomer. Whereas with kin selection the "goal" of… — Robert Wright Altruism Copy Share Image
“The keen sensitivity with which people detect the flaws of their rivals is one of nature's wonders. It takes a Herculean effort… — Robert Wright Empathy Copy Share Image
“What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" asked the Christian theologian Tertullian... Having received the revealed thruth via Christ, "we want no… — Robert Wright Jerusalem Copy Share Image
We're all puppets, and our best hope for even partial liberation is to try to decipher the logic of the puppeteer. Just… — Robert Wright Agendas Copy Share Image
Corruption is knowing when something is not being done, knowing when the American people are being left unprotected and when you make… — Robert Wright American people Copy Share Image
If two people stare at each other for more than a few seconds, it means they are about to either make love… — Robert Wright Community Copy Share Image
Whereas modern cynicism brought despair about the ability of the human species to realize laudable ideals, postmodern cynicism doesn't — not because… — Robert Wright Ability Copy Share Image
“The Chukchee, a people indigenous to Siberia, had their own special way of dealing with unruly winds. A Chukchee man would chant,… — Robert Wright Copy Share Image
“The believers believe there’s something out there—some “thing” in some sense of the word “thing”—that corresponds to the word “electron”; and that,… — Robert Wright Copy Share Image
“What causes all the hatred? At some level, it’s always the same thing: human beings operating under the influence of human brains… — Robert Wright Copy Share Image
“William James wrote in The Varieties of Religious Experience that religion “consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and… — Robert Wright Faith Copy Share Image
“As Kurzban has summarized this finding, “We think we’re better than average at not being biased in thinking that we’re better than… — Robert Wright Copy Share Image
“happiness comes down to choosing between the discomfort of becoming aware of your mental afflictions and the discomfort of being ruled by… — Robert Wright Happiness Copy Share Image
Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it is sometimes more admirable for skill than… — Robert Wright Copy Share Image
...human beings are a species splendid in their array of moral equipment, tragic in their propensity to misuse it, and pathetic in… — Robert Wright Copy Share Image
“Sensual pleasures are the whip natural selection uses to control us, to keep us in the thrall of its warped values system.” — Robert Wright Natural selection Copy Share Image
“Human nature consists of knobs and of mechanisms for tuning the knobs, and both are invisible in their own way.” — Robert Wright Human nature Copy Share Image
In the great non zero sum games of history, if you're part of the problem, then you'll likely be a victim of… — Robert Wright Games Copy Share Image
Think of it : zillions and zillions of organisms running around, each under the hypnotic spell of a single truth, all these… — Robert Wright Absurdity Copy Share Image
“When monogamy is found in subsistence-level cultures, Alexander calls it “ecologically imposed.” When it appears in more affluent, more stratified cultures, he… — Robert Wright Monogamy Copy Share Image
Actually, there is a sense in which polygynous marriage has not been the historical norm - even where polygyny is permitted, multiple… — Robert Wright Evolution Copy Share Image
“The idea is that human culture as broadly defined--art, politics, technology, religion, and so on--evolves in much the way biological species evolve:… — Robert Wright Change Copy Share Image
Maybe the growth of "God" signifies the existence of God. That is: if history naturally pushes people toward moral improvement, toward moral… — Robert Wright Copy Share Image
