We have a brain for one reason and one reason only — and that’s to produce adaptable and complex movements.

Daniel M. Wolpert is a neuroscientist known for influential work on motor control, internal models, and sensorimotor learning. This line is widely associated with his public-facing explanations—especially in lectures and interviews—arguing that the nervous system’s primary evolutionary and computational role is action: selecting and controlling movement in a changing world. The quote is typically used to reframe “brain function” away from abstract cognition alone and toward the demands of embodied behavior, emphasizing that perception and cognition are deeply shaped by the requirements of movement and interaction with the environment.

Wolpert’s claim is deliberately reductive: it asserts that the brain’s ultimate purpose is not contemplation but control—generating flexible, coordinated actions that let an organism survive. “Adaptable and complex movements” points to the challenge of producing reliable behavior despite noisy sensors, variable bodies, and unpredictable surroundings. The quote also implies a hierarchy: perception, prediction, attention, and even higher cognition are valuable insofar as they support effective action. As a provocation, it counters the tendency to treat intelligence as disembodied reasoning and instead highlights the brain as an organ optimized for real-time control and learning in the service of movement.