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. 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?
More E. O. Wilson Quotes
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In many environments, take away the ants and there would be partial collapses in many of the land ecosystems.
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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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Jehovah had nothing to say to Moses and the others about the care of the planet. He had plenty to say about tribal loyalty and conquest.
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Ants have the most complicated social organization on earth next to humans.
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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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People 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.
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Companies that are willing to share, to withhold in order to further the growth of the company.
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Religious belief itself is an adaptation that has evolved because we’re hard-wired to form tribalistic religions.
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Willing to try to get a better atmosphere through a demonstration of democratic principles, fairness and cooperation, a better product, those will win in the end.
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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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Every kid has a bug period… I never grew out of mine.
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Ideas emerge when a part of the real or imagined world is studied for its own sake.
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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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It’s obvious that the key problem facing humanity in the coming century is how to bring a better quality of life – for 8 billion or more people – without wrecking the environment entirely in the attempt.
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The moral imperative of humanism is the endeavor alone, whether successful or not, provided the effort is honorable and failure memorable.
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