Believe Quote by Marvin Minsky
“Each part of the mind sees only a little of what happens in some others, and that little is swiftly refined, reformulated and "represented." We like to believe that these fragments have meanings in themselves-apart from the great webs of structure from which they emerge-and indeed this illusion is valuable to us qua thinkers-but not to us as psychologists-because it leads us to think that expressible knowledge is the first thing to study.”
About This Quote
Source Book: The Society of Mind, 1986
Mind fragments are refined and represented, but focusing on them alone misleads psychologists.
In simple terms: Is fragments are useful but not whole.
Key Takeaway
Study both parts and whole mind.
Themes
cognition
fragmentation
representation
Mood
analytical
inquisitive
Type
cognitive
philosophical
When to use this quote
- research design
- educational curricula
- AI modeling
Key Concepts
holistic thinking
psychology
Questions to Reflect On
- How do fragments contribute to overall cognition?
- When is reductionism appropriate?
A Different Perspective
May undervalue reductionist approaches.
![“A couple of hundred years from now, maybe [science fiction writers] Isaac Asimov and Fred Pohl will be considered the important philosophers of the twentieth century, and the professional philosophers will almost all be forgotten, because they're just shallow and wrong, and their ideas aren't very…” quote by Marvin Minsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6f9/marvin-minsky-7760_century_a-couple-of-hundred-years-from-now-maybe_286808.jpg)
