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# The nervous system survives by predicting and...
> The nervous system survives by predicting and adapting to its environment, but intelligence becomes something more when a choice-maker can resist the very pressures shaping its behavior and, through a counterintuitive act, change the environment (or hold off the environment) instead of merely yielding to it.
**Source:** [[breakouts/Human Machine|Human Machine]], [[working/LEARNING TO WRITE AS BRYANT|LEARNING TO WRITE AS BRYANT]]
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“The nervous system survives by predicting and adapting to its environment, but intelligence becomes something more when a choice-maker can resist the very pressures shaping its behavior and, through a counterintuitive act, change the environment (or hold off the environment) instead of merely yielding to it.”
— Bryant McGill
https://bryantmcgill.com/quotes/quotes-nervous-system-survives-instead-merely-yielding
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