# Humanity Never Received Its Operating Manual by Max More > "You gave us limited memory, poor impulse control, and tribalistic, xenophobic urges. And, you forgot to give us the operating manual for ourselves!" > **— Max More**, *A Letter to Mother Nature, 1999 lecture; later revised author republication* ## Sources and Context - **Full source:** [Max More, A Letter to Mother Nature, author’s revised republication](https://maxmore.substack.com/p/letter-to-mother-nature-amendments). The addressee is Mother Nature; the operating manual is More’s metaphor for self-knowledge and self-regulation. The author notes a later revision; these words follow the cited author-hosted version rather than an independently checked 1999 transcript. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Organic-Synthetic Brain Atlas|The Organic-Synthetic Brain Atlas]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|We Were Never Going to Make It]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Cognitive Enhancement|Cognitive Enhancement]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/A Letter to Mother Nature|A Letter to Mother Nature]] - [[wiki/Cognitive Enhancement|Cognitive Enhancement]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "You gave us limited memory, poor impulse control, and tribalistic, xenophobic urges. And, you forgot to give us the operating manual for ourselves!" — Max More, A Letter to Mother Nature, 1999 lecture; later revised author republication https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-more-no-human-operating-manual ```