Consciousness is cerebral celebrity--nothing more and nothing less. Those contents are conscious that persevere, that monopolize resources long enough to achieve certain… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
If the concept of consciousness were to fall to science, what would happen to our sense of moral agency and free will?… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
Human consciousness is just about the last surviving mystery... a topic that often leaves even the most sophisticated thinkers tongue-tied and confused.… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
While we tend to conceive of the operations of the mind as unified and transparent, they're actually chaotic and opaque. There's no… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
If the best the roboticists can hope for is the creation of some crude, cheesy, second-rate, artificial consciousness, they still win. — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
There is no reality of consciousness independent of the effects of various vehicles of content on subsequent action (and hence, of course,… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
Virtually every major technological advance in the history of the human species- back to the invention of stone tools and the domestication of fire… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
Churches have given us great treasures such as music and architecture. Whether that pays for the harm they have done is another matter. — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
The secret of happiness is: Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it. — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
Whereas religions may serve a benign purpose by letting many people feel comfortable with the level of morality they themselves can attain, no religion… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
There's no polite way to say to somebody (religious followers) 'Do you realize you've wasted your life? — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
Wherever there is a design that is highly successful in a broad range of similar environments, it is apt to emerge again and again,… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
The haven all memes depend on reaching is the human mind, but a human mind is itself an artifact created when memes restructure a… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
Cost is always an object - the second law of thermodynamics sees to that — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
In the beginning, there were no reasons; there were only causes. Nothing had a purpose, nothing has so much as a function; there was… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
I look around the world and see so many wonderful things that I love and enjoy and benefit from, whether it's art or music… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
In all mammalian species that have so far been carefully studied, the rate at which their members engage in the killing of conspecifics is… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
Cults and prophets proclaiming the imminent end of the world have been with us for several millennia, and it has been another sour sort… — Daniel Dennett Copy Share Image
