If the Human Brain Were So Simple That We Could Understand It, We Would Be So Simple That We Couldn’t

Lyall Watson? George Edgin Pugh? Emerson M. Pugh? Ken Hill? Dear Quote Investigator: The European Union has launched a ten year scientific venture called the Human Brain Project to build a large-scale neural simulation of the brain. Google has hired the top computer scientist and inventor Ray Kurzweil who has espoused a strategy of reverse-engineering …

There Are Really No Dull Subjects, Only Dull Writers

H. L. Mencken? Raymond Chandler? Woodrow Wilson? Richard Le Gallienne? George Horace Lorimer? Dear Quote Investigator: Successful scribblers believe that all writing should be engaging. A popular adage places the onus squarely on the shoulders of the author: There are no dull subjects, just dull writers. This expression has been attributed to the curmudgeon essayist …

Everyone Who Bought One of Those 30,000 Copies Started a Band

Brian Eno? Lou Reed? Sylvain Sylvain? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The most influential rock band of the 1960s and early 1970s was The Velvet Underground, but their path breaking sound did not achieve great commercial success. A popular quip has emerged depicting their importance: The Velvet Underground didn’t sell many records, but everyone who bought …