analects noun, pl

/ˈan.ə.lɛkts/

a collection of ideas, extracts, or teachings.

Neurotypica

stuff On how the brain actually works

show:

analects under the categories btrmt. believes in, as set out in the manifesto

analects organised according to the fundamental questions of philosophy

sequences of articles gathered around a more focused idea

  • purple doesn't exist 8 Aug 2026 [audio + edited transcript] Purple isn’t on the light spectrum. Your brain invents it to stand for a green that should be there and isn’t—and it does the same with your...
  • overengineering calming down 4 Apr 2026 [audio + edited transcript] Pop neuroscience is just “calm down” in a lab coat. The theories are scaffolding around trivial advice, attractive because they make your pr...
  • the amygdala is not the fear centre 7 Mar 2026 [audio + edited transcript] Your amygdala doesn’t decide your fear. You do. It’s not a fear centre, it’s an intensity detector, and calming it down is solving the wrong...
  • stupid questions: consciousness 10 Jan 2026 [audio + edited transcript] The hard problem of consciousness isn’t a problem. It’s a beautiful argument with no stakes. Behaviour is what matters, not the ghost behind...
  • stupid questions 1 Jan 2026 [article] Nature is just nurture over time, and nurture is far more obviously in charge; nothing changes if free will isn’t real; and the same is true...
  • stupid questions: free will 27 Dec 2025 [audio + edited transcript] Whether free will is real changes precisely nothing. The world’s too complex for the answer to bite, and behaviour bends the same way no mat...
  • stupid questions: nature/nurture 13 Dec 2025 [audio + edited transcript] Nature is just nurture given time, and nurture is obviously the one in charge. The whole debate is Gladwell bait: superficially sexy, practi...
  • stress is good 1 Nov 2025 [audio + edited transcript] Stress isn’t broken by modern life. It’s a performance tool, and the line between fuel and harm isn’t the stressor. It’s whether you control...
  • beyond system 1 and system 2 13 Jun 2025 [article] System 1 vs System 2 is a useful shorthand, but our minds aren’t two-speed engines—they’re multi-process coalitions of specialised agents wo...
  • not brain regions, brain networks 14 Feb 2025 [article] Brain networks are groups of brain regions that work together. There are only a handful of interesting ones, but you can actually use them t...
  • mini-brains inside the brain 7 Feb 2025 [article] If you look closely, you’ll see that our ability to speak just hides the fact that other processes are running the show. Find a way to cut t...
  • anticipation beats reward 31 Jan 2025 [article] Basically, reward and ancipation both use the same system, but differently. Anticipation seems to come in through the senses and get sent th...
  • brain structures and behaviour 8 Nov 2024 [article] The brain is an integrator. It takes in information from all over the body, and puts it together to decide how you should act. This messy in...
  • nervous energy 25 Oct 2024 [article] The nervous system teaches us the most important lesson about human behaviour: the main thing our body does is transform the world into adap...
  • how neurons influence behaviour 30 Aug 2024 [article] Neurons link into ‘pathways’ that map perceptions to actions. But, neural pathways don’t just link one thing to one other thing—each pathway...
  • speaking in tongues 23 Aug 2024 [article] Glossolalia has a unique pattern of neural activity, distinct from psychopathologies and even other trance-like states. So, the feeling unde...
  • how does the brain 'think'? pt. iii 26 Jul 2024 [article] The brain almost certainly has many processes that contribute to any decision. Here we have one that cares about what it sees, and maybe ano...
  • how does the brain 'think'? pt. ii 19 Jul 2024 [article] The brain probably enhances colour information, inhibits word information, or some combination to solve the Stroop task. I found inhibition,...
  • how does the brain 'think'? pt. i 12 Jul 2024 [article] It’s not exactly clear how often humans really ‘think’. Most of what we do is automatic—habitual responding to a predictable world. But ther...
  • memory and imagination both use the same architecture 28 Jun 2024 [article] Memory takes the form of neural maps in the brain, tying our experiences and perceptions together. These maps are the same maps we use to pr...
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