If those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way.
E. O. WILSONIndividual versus group selection results in a mix of altruism and selfishness, of virtue and sin, among the members of a society.
More E. O. Wilson Quotes
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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.
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What’s been gratifying is to live long enough to see molecular biology and evolutionary biology growing toward each other and uniting in research efforts.
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Change will come slowly, across generations, because old beliefs die hard even when demonstrably false.
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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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It’s always been a great survival value for people to believe they belong to a superior tribe. That’s just in human relationships.
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Of course, there is no reconciliation between the theory of evolution by natural selection and the traditional religious view of the origin of the human mind.
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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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Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.
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Our brain is mapping the world. Often that map is distorted, but it’s a map with constant immediate sensory input.
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The variety of genes on the planet in viruses exceeds, or is likely to exceed, that in all of the rest of life combined.
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If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago.
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Ants have the most complicated social organization on earth next to humans.
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We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity.
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Individual versus group selection results in a mix of altruism and selfishness, of virtue and sin, among the members of a society.
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If we were to wipe out insects alone on this planet, the rest of life and humanity with it would mostly disappear from the land. Within a few months.
E. O. WILSON






