We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity.
E. O. WILSONWe should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity.
E. O. WILSONWell, 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.
E. O. WILSONOur brain is mapping the world. Often that map is distorted, but it’s a map with constant immediate sensory input.
E. O. WILSONTheology made no provision for evolution. The biblical authors had missed the most important revelation of all! Could it be that they were not really privy to the thoughts of God?
E. O. WILSONEvery kid has a bug period… I never grew out of mine.
E. O. WILSONAnts have the most complicated social organization on earth next to humans.
E. O. WILSONIf insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.
E. O. WILSONThe 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?
E. O. WILSONI’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.
E. O. WILSONAnts are the leading removers of dead creatures on the land. And the rest of life is substantially dependent upon them.
E. O. WILSONThe 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.
E. O. WILSONPeople need a sacred narrative. They must have a sense of larger purpose, in one form or another, however intellectualized. They will find a way to keep ancestral spirits alive.
E. O. WILSONWithout a trace of irony I can say I have been blessed with brilliant enemies. I owe them a great debt, because they redoubled my energies and drove me in new directions.
E. O. WILSONReligious beliefs evolved by group-selection, tribe competing against tribe, and the illogic of religions is not a weakness but their essential strength.
E. O. WILSONIf history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth.
E. O. WILSONPolitical ideology can corrupt the mind, and science.
E. O. WILSON