Science
Cognitive Scientist Proves Evolution Shaped Us to See Zero Percent of Reality
American Alchemy
MIT Scientist: “Your Brain Evolved To Ignore Aliens – They’re Everywhere!”
What was said
"What we discovered is the probability that any sensory system has ever been shaped to see any true feature of objective reality. When you do the math, the answer is zero. Exactly zero."
Don Hoffman, cognitive scientist at UC Irvine, presented evolutionary game theory theorems proving evolution optimizes fitness, not truth perception. Using mathematical models, he demonstrated that natural selection shapes sensory systems to aid survival, not to reveal objective reality. This challenges the assumption that our perceptions correspond to the world as it actually is.
Verification status
Attributed speaker claim
Egleze verified who said this and where. The underlying claim has not been independently established by Egleze.
Source and context
Egleze verified who said this and where. The underlying claim has not been independently established by Egleze.
- Programme
- American Alchemy
- Episode
- MIT Scientist: “Your Brain Evolved To Ignore Aliens – They’re Everywhere!”
- Clip time
- 5:45
- Original source
- Watch the source segment →
From this episode
American Alchemy