Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Amil Ananthaswamy

Quote by Amil Ananthaswamy

“Ponder this for a moment. Newborn ducklings, with the briefest of exposure to sensory stimuli, detect patterns in what they see, form abstract notions of similarity/dissimilarity, and then will recognize those abstractions in stimuli they see later and act upon them.”

Quote by Amil Ananthaswamy

Create image

Author

Amil Ananthaswamy

Browse famous quotes and profile details for Amil Ananthaswamy. more

You May Also Like

“There's a pleasure in knowing the names of things. It's not about a need to categorise the world, sectioning it into little boxes. And clearly you don't have to know the names of rocks - or trees or plants or birds - in order to enjoy a landscape. But if you do have this information, something changes about the way you exist in that space. A named landscape thickens. It's to do with history and context but also, I think, with the quality of attention. To assign something its name, you need to take the time to pick out identifying features. You look for longer. And the more you know, the more things stop being a backdrop - blurred, indistinguishable, hurried over - and become somehow more present in the view, more insistently themselves, the way a familiar face stands out in a crowd.”

ScienceNatureLandscapeNatural History
Book:Notes from Deep Time
Create image

“We do not pay at the pump for the cost of climate change. For the loss of ecosystem services provided by maples and others. Cheap gas now or maples for the next generation? Call me crazy but I’d welcome the tax that would resolve that question. Individuals far wiser than I have said that we get the government we deserve. That may be true but the maples our most generous of benefactors, most responsible of citizens do not deserve our government: they deserve you and me speaking up on their behalf. To quote our town councilwoman “Show up at the damn meeting” Political action, civil engagement these are powerful acts of reciprocity with the land. The maple nation bill of responsibilities asks us to stand up for the standing people to lead with the wisdom of maples.”

SciencePoliticsNatureIndige
Book:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Create image

“Bringing a candle to a neighbor's home who had their power cut off, is far holier than lighting a thousand candles in the church. If you bring electricity to a marginalized community with a simple solar power kit, it's a far greater scientific achievement than the gargantuan glories of the LHC. There is no greater scientific achievement than simple science solving big problems. There is no greater holiness than trading in the bible for a simple act of kindness.”

ScienceKindnessDivineScientistHolinessDivinityService Of HumanityHumanistScientific Research
Book:Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience
Create image