--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If we ever find out how the brain works…" description: "\"If we ever find out how the brain works, with all its complexity, then we will be able to build a machine that has consciousness. And if that happens, ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b8/e-l-doctorow-4627_able_if-we-ever-find-out-how-the-brain-works_2721480.png" --- # If we ever find out how the brain works, with all its… ![“If we ever find out how the brain works, with all its complexity, then we will be able to build a machine that has consciousness. And if that happens, that is a road to planetary disaster because everything we've thought about ourselves, since the Bronze Age, the Bible, all of that will be gone.” quote by E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b8/e-l-doctorow-4627_able_if-we-ever-find-out-how-the-brain-works_2721480.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b8/e-l-doctorow-4627_able_if-we-ever-find-out-how-the-brain-works_2721480.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b8/e-l-doctorow-4627_able_if-we-ever-find-out-how-the-brain-works_2721480.png) > “If we ever find out how the brain works, with all its complexity, then we will be able to build a machine that has consciousness. And if that happens, that is a road to planetary disaster because everything we've thought about ourselves, since the Bronze Age, the Bible, all of that will be gone.” [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Understanding the brain could enable conscious machines, threatening humanity’s self‑concept and causing existential crisis. **In simple terms:** Conscious AI could erase human identity. Key Takeaway Prepare for profound societal change. Themes AI consciousness existential risk philosophy Mood speculative warning Type technological philosophical When to use this quote - policy forums - academic research - public discourse - media analysis Key Concepts technology ethics future studies religion anthropology Questions to Reflect On - How should societies address potential AI consciousness? - What safeguards protect human values? A Different Perspective Technological fear may be overstated. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/age/) [Bible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bible/) [Brain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brain/) [Bronze](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bronze/) [Complexity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/) [Computers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) [Consciousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consciousness/) [Disaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disaster/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Technology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technology/) [Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought/) ## Related quotes > [“If we are to understand consciousness—the fact that we think and feel and that a world shows up for us—we need to turn our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alva-noe/if-we-are-to-understand-consciousness-the-fact-that-we-think-and-feel/) [Alva Noë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alva-noe/) > [If we get away from the lazy and fuzzy thinking that is like a poison in our society - if we get away from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/if-we-get-away-from-the-lazy-and-fuzzy-thinking-that-is-like-a-poison/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [We must remember that man is not an island, totally isolated and disconnected from others. We are all part of a universal chain, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mata-amritanandamayi/we-must-remember-that-man-is-not-an-island-totally-isolated-and/) [Mata Amritanandamayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mata-amritanandamayi/) > [“The optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is order in consciousness. This happens when psychic energy—or attention—is invested in realistic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/the-optimal-state-of-inner-experience-is-one-in-which-there-is-order/) [Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/) > [We're all on-board the same planetary spaceship, but together, we can move mountains.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-payette/we-re-all-on-board-the-same-planetary-spaceship-but-together-we-can/) [Julie Payette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-payette/) > [My field is called planetary science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-stern/my-field-is-called-planetary-science/) [Alan Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-stern/) > [“Uncle Yuichi: Something's moving up there? Hmm... I don't see anything. It was probably a satelite. Punpun (with gums flapping): Could I have discovered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/inio-asano/uncle-yuichi-something-s-moving-up-there-hmm-i-don-t-see-anything-it/) [Inio Asano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/inio-asano/) > [Always try to be the {guiding star of a mans life, but never make the mistake of fancying that you are his whole planetary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arvie/always-try-to-be-the-guiding-star-of-a-mans-life-but-never-make-the/) [Arvie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arvie/) > [It is a mystic maxim that the lower in the scale of evolution a being is placed, the more certainly it responds to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-heindel/it-is-a-mystic-maxim-that-the-lower-in-the-scale-of-evolution-a-being/) [Max Heindel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-heindel/) > [All life on Earth is subject to the rumbles and rockings of the parent stucture which has no control over the disastrous effects of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kirby/all-life-on-earth-is-subject-to-the-rumbles-and-rockings-of-the/) [Jack Kirby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kirby/) > [“But human beings, too, are ephemeral things in the planetary scale. The number of things that they do not notice are literally astronomical.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-k-jemisin/but-human-beings-too-are-ephemeral-things-in-the-planetary-scale-the/) [N.K. Jemisin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-k-jemisin/) > [The Kuiper Belt is the largest mapped structure in our planetary system, three times as big as all the territory from the sun out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-stern/the-kuiper-belt-is-the-largest-mapped-structure-in-our-planetary/) [Alan Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-stern/) > [The planetary phase of history has begun, but the future shape of global society remains profoundly uncertain. Though perhaps improbable, a shift toward a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-raskin/the-planetary-phase-of-history-has-begun-but-the-future-shape-of/) Paul Raskin > [I read 'The High Frontier' in high school. I read it multiple times, and I was already primed. As soon as I read it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-bezos/i-read-the-high-frontier-in-high-school-i-read-it-multiple-times-and/) [Jeff Bezos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-bezos/) > [The story seems to be that almost every star has a planetary system... and, also, the definition of 'habitable zone' has expanded. In our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-drake/the-story-seems-to-be-that-almost-every-star-has-a-planetary-system/) [Frank Drake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-drake/) ## More by E. L. Doctorow > [Things that appear on the front page of the newspaper as 'fact' are far more dangerous than the games played by a novelist, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/things-that-appear-on-the-front-page-of-the-newspaper-as-fact-are-far/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [There are moments when I cannot bear this unremitting consciousness. It knows only itself. Awake, I am in a continuum with my dreams. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/there-are-moments-when-i-cannot-bear-this-unremitting-consciousness/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [Most people are quiet in the world, and live in it tentatively, as if it were not their own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/most-people-are-quiet-in-the-world-and-live-in-it-tentatively-as-if/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [It is the immigrant hordes who keep this country alive, the waves of them arriving year after year… Who believes in America more than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/it-is-the-immigrant-hordes-who-keep-this-country-alive-the-waves-of/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [A book begins as a private excitement of the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/a-book-begins-as-a-private-excitement-of-the-mind/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [I started on computers with 'Billy Bathgate,' a little orange screen with black letters. I thought it was really cool, but it actually slowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/i-started-on-computers-with-billy-bathgate-a-little-orange-screen/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [When I'm writing, I like to seal everything off and face the wall, not to look outside the window. The only way out is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/when-i-m-writing-i-like-to-seal-everything-off-and-face-the-wall-not/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [Facts are the images of history, just as images are the facts of fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/facts-are-the-images-of-history-just-as-images-are-the-facts-of/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [The nature of good fiction is that it dwells in ambiguity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/the-nature-of-good-fiction-is-that-it-dwells-in-ambiguity/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [Uncharged with invisible meaning, the visible is nothing, mere clay; and without visible circumstance, a territory, to connect to, our spirit is shapeless, nameless,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/uncharged-with-invisible-meaning-the-visible-is-nothing-mere-clay-and/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [“Writing a novel is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/writing-a-novel-is-like-driving-at-night-in-the-fog-you-can-only-see/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [I did have a feeling then that the culture of factuality was so dominating that storytelling had lost all its authority.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/i-did-have-a-feeling-then-that-the-culture-of-factuality-was-so/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [I got married very early, and in no time at all, we had three children. And it seemed to me I had an obligation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/i-got-married-very-early-and-in-no-time-at-all-we-had-three-children/) [E. L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow/) > [When you're writing a book, you don't really think about it critically. You don't want to know too well what you're doing. First, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow/when-you-re-writing-a-book-you-don-t-really-think-about-it-critically/) [E. L. 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I'm still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-think-i-ve-had-the-longest-career-of-strength-focus-and-still-being/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) > [I have that need in me, I want everyone to love me, but I'm embarrassed by that need, so I wanted to cover it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/i-have-that-need-in-me-i-want-everyone-to-love-me-but-i-m-embarrassed/) [Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/) > [Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player would could have done what he (Jackie Robinson) did. 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