--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: External reality is sort of an…" description: "\"External reality is sort of an affectation of the nervous system.\" — Jaron Lanier" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/761/jaron-lanier-2241_affectation_external-reality-is-sort-of-an-affectati_1429230.png" --- # External reality is sort of an affectation of the nervous… ![“External reality is sort of an affectation of the nervous system.” quote by Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/761/jaron-lanier-2241_affectation_external-reality-is-sort-of-an-affectati_1429230.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/761/jaron-lanier-2241_affectation_external-reality-is-sort-of-an-affectati_1429230.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/761/jaron-lanier-2241_affectation_external-reality-is-sort-of-an-affectati_1429230.png) > “External reality is sort of an affectation of the nervous system.” [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Our perception of the world is shaped by how our nervous system interprets stimuli, not by an objective external reality. **In simple terms:** We see reality through our nervous system. Key Takeaway Recognize perception is filtered. Themes perception neuroscience reality Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - psychology - philosophy - technology - media consumption - virtual reality Key Concepts subjectivity construction of experience Questions to Reflect On - How does your nervous system shape your view of events? - Can you trust your senses? A Different Perspective Our nervous system can be biased, leading to misinterpretations. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Affectation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affectation/) [Affectation Nervous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affectation-nervous-5083666/) [External](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/external/) [External Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/external-reality-399733/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Nervous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nervous/) [Nervous system](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nervous-system/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) ## Related quotes > [When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ingrid-newkirk/when-it-comes-to-having-a-central-nervous-system-and-the-ability-to/) [Ingrid Newkirk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ingrid-newkirk/) > [The electric age ... established a global network that has much the character of our central nervous system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/the-electric-age-established-a-global-network-that-has-much-the/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [God may forgive your sins, but your nervous system won't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/god-may-forgive-your-sins-but-your-nervous-system-won-t/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [Freedom is when you really get your own powers which are within you. In your central nervous system and in your conscious mind, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/freedom-is-when-you-really-get-your-own-powers-which-are-within-you/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [The fate of the physiology of the brain is independent of the truth and falsity of my assertions relative to the laws of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-joseph-gall/the-fate-of-the-physiology-of-the-brain-is-independent-of-the-truth/) [Franz Joseph Gall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-joseph-gall/) > [In a person who is open to experience each stimulus is freely relayed through the nervous system, without being distorted by any process of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rogers/in-a-person-who-is-open-to-experience-each-stimulus-is-freely-relayed/) [Carl Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rogers/) > [Using less of the Earth’s resources more efficiently and productively in a circular economy and making the transition from carbon-based fuels to renewable energies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-rifkin/using-less-of-the-earth-s-resources-more-efficiently-and-productively/) [Jeremy Rifkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-rifkin/) > [ It was at Harvard not quite forty years ago that I went into an anechoic \[totally silent\] chamber not expecting in that silent room… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cage/it-was-at-harvard-not-quite-forty-years-ago-that-i-went-into-an/) [John Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cage/) > [Torture takes over someone's nervous system. 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It's not the Borg. But we created a new central nervous system made of two brains.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-nicolelis/it-s-not-telepathy-it-s-not-the-borg-but-we-created-a-new-central/) [Miguel Nicolelis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-nicolelis/) > [With the arrival of electric technology, man has extended, or set outside himself, a live model of the central nervous system itself. To the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/with-the-arrival-of-electric-technology-man-has-extended-or-set/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Time is the nervous system of narration, whether factual or fictive. If it gets confused some of the minutiae of human nature are certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenway-wescott/time-is-the-nervous-system-of-narration-whether-factual-or-fictive-if/) [Glenway Wescott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenway-wescott/) > [When anger is not trampling roughshod through our nervous system, it is sitting sullenly in some unspecified internal organ. "She's got a lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-tavris/when-anger-is-not-trampling-roughshod-through-our-nervous-system-it/) [Carol Tavris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-tavris/) ## More by Jaron Lanier > [If we allow our self-congratulatory adoration of technology to distract us from our own contact with each other, then somehow the original agenda has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/if-we-allow-our-self-congratulatory-adoration-of-technology-to/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [Individual web pages as they first appeared in the early 1990s had the flavour of person-hood. MySpace preserved some of that flavour, though a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/individual-web-pages-as-they-first-appeared-in-the-early-1990s-had/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [Style used to be an interaction between the human soul and tools that were limiting. In the digital era, it will have to come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/style-used-to-be-an-interaction-between-the-human-soul-and-tools-that/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [We should talk about the ultimate cause of war. It's a question we should never stop asking, because if we do, there's a chance,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/we-should-talk-about-the-ultimate-cause-of-war-it-s-a-question-we/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [There is nothing more gray, stultifying, or dreary than life lived inside the confines of a theory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/there-is-nothing-more-gray-stultifying-or-dreary-than-life-lived/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [“There are at least two ways to believe in the idea of quality. You can believe there's something ineffable going on within the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/there-are-at-least-two-ways-to-believe-in-the-idea-of-quality-you-can/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [An intelligent person feels guilty for downloading music without paying the musician, but they use this free-open-culture ideology to cover it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/an-intelligent-person-feels-guilty-for-downloading-music-without/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [“What these critics forget is that printing presses in themselves provide no guarantee of an enlightened outcome. People, not machines, made the Renaissance. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/what-these-critics-forget-is-that-printing-presses-in-themselves/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [There were studies that asked people in different cultures to draw pictures of their enemies, and the pictures all looked remarkably the same. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/there-were-studies-that-asked-people-in-different-cultures-to-draw/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [“Zombies are familiar characters in philosophical thought experiments. They are like people in every way except they have no internal experience… If there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/zombies-are-familiar-characters-in-philosophical-thought-experiments/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [We're losing track of the vastness of the potential for computer science. We really have to revive the beautiful intellectual joy of it, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/we-re-losing-track-of-the-vastness-of-the-potential-for-computer/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [Of all the things you can spend a lot of money on, the only things you expect to fail frequently are software and medicine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/of-all-the-things-you-can-spend-a-lot-of-money-on-the-only-things-you/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [ At the turn of the \[21st\] century it was really Sergey Brin at Google who just had the thought of, well, if we give… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/at-the-turn-of-the-21st-century-it-was-really-sergey-brin-at-google/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [The mass culture of childhood right now is astonishingly technical. Little kids know their Unix path punctuation so they can get around the Web,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/the-mass-culture-of-childhood-right-now-is-astonishingly-technical/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [Wal-Mart impoverished its own customer base. Google is facing exactly the same issue long-term, although not yet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/wal-mart-impoverished-its-own-customer-base-google-is-facing-exactly/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) [Explore all 173 Jaron Lanier quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) ## More Affectation quotes > [Mannerism is not character, and affectation is the avowed enemy of grace. Every dancer ought to regard his laborious art as a link in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/august-bournonville/mannerism-is-not-character-and-affectation-is-the-avowed-enemy-of/) [August Bournonville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/august-bournonville/) > [I have no affectation when I speak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-kudrow/i-have-no-affectation-when-i-speak/) [Lisa Kudrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-kudrow/) > [Affectation is a very good word when someone does not wish to confess to what he would none the less like to believe of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/affectation-is-a-very-good-word-when-someone-does-not-wish-to-confess/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I don't like affectation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-freeman/i-don-t-like-affectation/) [Martin Freeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-freeman/) > [Look for all fancy wordings and get rid of themAvoid all terms and expressions, old or new, that embody affectation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/look-for-all-fancy-wordings-and-get-rid-of-themavoid-all-terms-and/) [Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/) > [The only source of the true Ridiculous (as it appears to me) is affectation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-fielding/the-only-source-of-the-true-ridiculous-as-it-appears-to-me-is/) [Henry Fielding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-fielding/) > [Affectation is to be always distinguished from hypocrisy as being the art of counterfeiting those qualities, which we might with innocence and safety, be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/affectation-is-to-be-always-distinguished-from-hypocrisy-as-being-the/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Don't laugh at a youth for his affectations; he's only trying on one face after another till he finds his own](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/logan-pearsall-smith/don-t-laugh-at-a-youth-for-his-affectations-he-s-only-trying-on-one/) [Logan Pearsall Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/logan-pearsall-smith/) > [I have no modesty. Modesty is a learned affectation. It's like decal stuck up on a person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/i-have-no-modesty-modesty-is-a-learned-affectation-it-s-like-decal/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [Affectation is the product of falsehood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/affectation-is-the-product-of-falsehood/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Affectation hath always had a greater share both in the action and discourse of men than truth and judgment have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aphra-behn/affectation-hath-always-had-a-greater-share-both-in-the-action-and/) [Aphra Behn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aphra-behn/) > [Affectation proceeds from one of these two causes,--vanity or hypocrisy; for as vanity puts us on affecting false characters, in order to purchase applause;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-fielding/affectation-proceeds-from-one-of-these-two-causes-vanity-or-hypocrisy/) [Henry Fielding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-fielding/) > [There is a pleasure in affecting affectation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/there-is-a-pleasure-in-affecting-affectation/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Affectation is an awkward and forced imitation of what should be genuine and easy, wanting the beauty that accompanies what is natural.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-locke/affectation-is-an-awkward-and-forced-imitation-of-what-should-be/) [John Locke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-locke/) > [Affectation is as necessary to the mind as dress is to the body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/affectation-is-as-necessary-to-the-mind-as-dress-is-to-the-body/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) [Browse all 27 Affectation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affectation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "External reality is sort of an affectation of the nervous system.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jaron Lanier" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/external-reality-is-sort-of-an-affectation-of-the-nervous-system/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Affectation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/external-reality-is-sort-of-an-affectation-of-the-nervous-system/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/761/jaron-lanier-2241_affectation_external-reality-is-sort-of-an-affectati_1429230.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/761/jaron-lanier-2241_affectation_external-reality-is-sort-of-an-affectati_1429230.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/761/jaron-lanier-2241_affectation_external-reality-is-sort-of-an-affectati_1429230.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“External reality is sort of an affectation of the nervous system.” — Jaron Lanier", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jaron Lanier", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "External reality is sort of an...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/external-reality-is-sort-of-an-affectation-of-the-nervous-system/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/external-reality-is-sort-of-an-affectation-of-the-nervous-system/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```