# Education Recycles Brain Networks for New Uses by Stanislas Dehaene > “Our brain is nothing but a collection of networks of neurons and synapses that have been shaped by evolution to solve specific problems. Yet through education and culture, we have found ways to "recycle" those networks for other uses. With the invention of reading and writing, we recycle our visual system to do word reading.” > **— Stanislas Dehaene**, *1999 Edge Annual Question, response passage* ## Sources and Context - **Direct publication and locator:** [researcher at the Institut National de la Santé studies cognitive neuropsychology of language and number processing in the human brain — Stanislas Dehaene](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11233) — 1999 Annual Question response, contiguous sentence(s) within the representative extract. - **Exact original excerpt:** “Our brain is nothing but a collection of networks of neurons and synapses that have been shaped by evolution to solve specific problems. Yet through education and culture, we have found ways to "recycle" those networks for other uses. With the invention of reading and writing, we recycle our visual system to do word reading. With the invention of mathematics, we apply our innate networks for number, space, and time to all sorts of problems beyond their original domain of relevance. Education is the key invention that enables all these rewirings to take place at a time when our brains are still optimally modifiable.” - **Context and editing:** Dehaene presents education as his choice for a consequential invention; the first three contiguous sentences describe evolved networks and their reuse for literacy. Later sentences add mathematics and the importance of early modifiability. No editorial words were inserted. - **Local Edge archive:** [[research/Edge 1999 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 1999 Full Quotation Curation]], response EDGE1999-044. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Neuroplasticity|Neuroplasticity]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Neuroplasticity|Neuroplasticity]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Our brain is nothing but a collection of networks of neurons and synapses that have been shaped by evolution to solve specific problems. Yet through education and culture, we have found ways to "recycle" those networks for other uses. With the invention of reading and writing, we recycle our visual system to do word reading.” — Stanislas Dehaene, 1999 Edge Annual Question, response passage https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-stanislas-dehaene-education-recycles-brain-networks-new-uses ```