By any reasonable measure of achievement, the faith of the Enlightenment thinkers in science was justified.
E. O. WILSONI tend to believe that religious dogma is a consequence of evolution.
More E. O. Wilson Quotes
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Competing is intense among humans, and within a group, selfish individuals always win. But in contests between groups, groups of altruists always beat groups of selfish individuals.
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The world depends on fungi, because they are major players in the cycling of materials and energy around the world.
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We ought to recognize that religious strife is not the consequence of differences among people. It’s about conflicts between creation stories.
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If those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way.
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This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.
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The essence of humanity’s spiritual dilemma is that we evolved genetically to accept one truth and discovered another. Is there a way to erase the dilemma, to resolve the contradictions between the transcendentalist and the empiricist world views?
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I’m very much a Christian in ideals and ethics, especially in terms of belief in fairness, a deep set obligation to others, and the virtues of charity, tolerance and generosity that we associate with traditional Christian teaching.
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Change will come slowly, across generations, because old beliefs die hard even when demonstrably false.
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The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.
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I had reached a point in my career in which I was ready to try something new in my writing, and the idea of a novel has always been in the back of my mind.
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The two major challenges for the 21st century are to improve the economic situation of the majority and save as much of the planet as we can.
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Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure.
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Science and religion are the two most powerful forces in the world. Having them at odds… is not productive.
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Well, let me tell you, ants are the dominant insects. They make up as much as a quarter of the biomass of all insects in the world. They are the principal predators. They’re the cemetery workers.
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An individual ant, even though it has a brain about a millionth of a size of a human being’s, can learn a maze; the kind we use is a simple rat maze in a laboratory. They can learn it about one-half as fast as a rat.
E. O. WILSON