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E. O. Wilson

E. O. Wilson Quotes

Biologist

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Famous E. O. Wilson Quotes

“Science offers the boldest metaphysics of the age. It is a thoroughly human construct, driven by the faith that if we dream, press to discover, explain, and dream again, thereby plunging repeatedly into new terrain, the world will somehow come clearer and we will grasp the true strangeness of the universe. And the strangeness will all prove to be connected, and make sense.”

IfsWorldHumansDreamAgeFaithUniverseOffersProvePressesConnectedDrivenMake SenseMetaphysicsConstructsStrangenessTerrain
Author:E. O. Wilson
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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. If one colony member devotes its life to service over marriage, the individual is of benefit to the society, even though it does not have personal offspring. A soldier going into battle will benefit his country, but he runs a higher risk of death than one who does not. An altruist benefits the group, but a layabout or coward who saves his own energy and reduces his bodily risk passes the resulting social cost to others.”

IfsDoeCountryRunningIndividualEnergySocialSinResultsVirtueRiskGroupsHigherBattleCostMembersBenefitsSoldierSelfishnessCowardAltruismVersusSelectionOffspringColony
Author:E. O. Wilson
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“While ants exist in just the right numbers for the rest of the living world, humans have become too numerous. If we were to vanish today, the land environment would return to the fertile balance that existed before the human population explosion. Only a dozen or so species, among which are the crab louse and a mite that lives in the oil glands of our foreheads, depend on us entirely. But if ants were to disappear, tens of thousands of other plants and animal species would perish also, simplifying and weakening land ecosystems almost everywhere.”

IfsWorldHumansTodayAnimalNumbersEnvironmentLandDependsReturnBalancePlantSpeciesPopulationOilDisappearDozenExplosionsAntsForeheadsEcosystemsFertileWeakeningCrabsPlants And AnimalsGlandsHuman PopulationPopulation Explosion
Author:E. O. Wilson
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“The great paradox of determinism and free will, which has held the attention of the wisest of philosophers and psychologists for generations, can be phrased in more biological terms as follows: If our genes are inherited, and our environment is a train of physical events set in motion before we were born, how can there be a truly independent agent within the brain? The agent itself is created by the interaction of the genes and the environment. It would appear that our freedom is only a self delusion.”

IfsSelfTermBornAttentionBrainEnvironmentGenerationsEventsEvolutionIndependentTrainPhilosopherAgentsDelusionParadoxFree WillGenesInteractionOur EnvironmentPsychologistWisestDeterminismSelf Delusion
Author:E. O. Wilson
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“If insemination were the sole biological function of sex, it could be achieved far more economically in a few seconds of mounting and insertion. Indeed, the least social of mammals mate with scarcely more ceremony. The species that have evolved long-term bonds are also, by and large, the ones that rely on elaborate courtship rituals. . . . Love and sex do indeed go together.”

IfsLoveLongTogetherSocialSexTermFunctionSpeciesLong TermRelyRitualSecondsMatesSoleCeremonyCourtshipMammals
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“Nature first, then theory. Or, better, Nature and theory closely intertwined while you throw all your intellectual capital at the subject. Love the organisms for themselves first, then strain for general explanations, and, with good fortune, discoveries will follow. If they don't, the love and the pleasure will have been enough.”

IfsFirstsHas BeensEnoughPleasureSubjectsTheoryIntellectualDiscoveryFortuneExplanationOrganismsStrainGood FortuneIntertwinedIntellectual Capital
Author:E. O. Wilson
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“The green prehuman earth is the mystery we were chosen to solve, a guide to the birthplace of our spirit, but it is slipping away. The way back seems harder every year. If there is danger in the human trajectory, it is not so much in the survival of our own species as in the fulfillment of the ultimate irony of organic evolution: that in the instant of achieving self-understanding, through the mind of man, life has doomed its most beautiful creations. And thus humanity closes the door on its past.”

IfsMenWayYearsMindHumansSelfSeemsEarthPastBeautifulSpiritHumanityUnderstandingDoorsMysteryAchieveDangerCreationEvolutionSurvivalUltimateHarderGreenSpeciesSolveGuidesChosenIronyFulfillmentInstantDoomedSlippingTrajectorySelf UnderstandingBirthplaceSlipping Away
Author:E. O. Wilson
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