If scientists don’t play God, who will?
JAMES WATSONScience seldom proceeds in the straightforward logical manner imagined by outsiders. Instead, its steps forward (and sometimes backward) are often very human events in which personalities and cultural traditions play major roles.
More James Watson Quotes
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For all my life, America was the place to be. And we somehow continue to be the place where there are real opportunities to change the world for the better.
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I think the reason people are dealing with science less well now than 50 years ago is that it has become so complicated.
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I don’t think we are here for anything. We’re just products of evolution. You can say, “Gee, your life must be pretty bleak if you don’t think there’s a purpose.” But I’m anticipating a good lunch.
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I turned against the left wing because they don’t like genetics, because genetics implies that sometimes in life we fail because we have bad genes. They want all failure in life to be due to the evil system.
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No one may have the guts to say this, but if we could make better human beings by knowing how to add genes, why shouldn’t we?
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Ever since we achieved a breakthrough in the area of recombinant DNA in 1973, left-wing nuts and environmental kooks have been screaming that we will create some kind of Frankenstein bug or Andromeda Strain that will destroy us all.
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Science that leads over the horizon depends on gathering the best minds and enabling them to do what the best minds naturally seek to do: pursue the most thrilling questions of the time.
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The brain is the last and grandest biological frontier, the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe. It contains hundreds of billions of cells interlinked through trillions of connections. The brain boggles the mind.
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Already for thirty-five years he had not stopped talking and almost nothing of fundamental value had emerged.
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DNA was my only gold rush. I regarded DNA as worth a gold rush.
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Our goal should be to understand our differences.
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Every time you understand something, religion becomes less likely.
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Ultimately, we’ll help the people we discriminate against if we try to understand more about them; genetics will lead to a world where there is a sympathy for the underdog.
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People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great.
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There are many people of color who are very talented.
JAMES WATSON