Steven Novella

"… our inherent assumption is that you convince people with rational arguments. But all the data shows that most people are not influenced by rational arguments. They're influenced by social pressure. …"

"As you study science, and really try to understand what is happening behind the curtain, not just reading the predigested press releases but actually talking to scientists or reading technical papers,…"

"There's a host of scams that are evolving all the time."

"Placebo effects are mostly reporting bias, regression to the mean, investment justification, researcher bias, and other sources of self-deception. They are transient, and significant only for subjecti…"

"Isn't the future necessarily going to be dominated by machine life?"

"We will make virtual brains. … We will be able to create consciousness without really ever understanding it."

"I think the Internet is the biggest classroom we have."

"In fact, there are many altered brain states where people may have a very vivid experience, or at least a vivid memory of their experience, precisely because they have impaired brain function. When yo…"