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E. O. Wilson

E. O. Wilson Quotes

Biologist

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Famous E. O. Wilson Quotes

“Biology is a science of three dimensions. The first is the study of each species across all levels of biological organization, molecule to cell to organism to population to ecosystem. The second dimension is the diversity of all species in the biosphere. The third dimension is the history of each species in turn, comprising both its genetic evolution and the environmental change that drove the evolution. Biology, by growing in all three dimensions, is progressing toward unification and will continue to do so.”

FirstsScienceTurnsThreeLevelsStudyGrowingProgressEvolutionDiversityOrganizationThirdsSpeciesEnvironmentalPopulationCellsDimensionsBiologyOrganismsMoleculesEcosystemsUnificationBiosphereThree DimensionsEnvironmental Change
Author:E. O. Wilson
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“Now when you cut a forest, an ancient forest in particular, you are not just removing a lot of big trees and a few birds fluttering around in the canopy. You are drastically imperiling a vast array of species within a few square miles of you. The number of these species may go to tens of thousands. Many of them are still unknown to science, and science has not yet discovered the key role undoubtedly played in the maintenance of that ecosystem, as in the case of fungi, microorganisms, and many of the insects.”

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Author:E. O. Wilson
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“The genes hold culture on a leash. The leash is very long, but inevitably values will be constrained in accordance with their effects on the human gene pool. The brain is a product of evolution. Human behavior-like the deepest capacities for emotional respone which drive and guide it-is the circuitous technique by which human genetic material has been and will be kept intact.”

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Author:E. O. Wilson
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“The price of these failures has been a loss of moral consensus, a greater sense of helplessness about the human condition. ... The intellectual solution to the first dilemma can be achieved by a deeper and more courageous examination of human nature that combines the findings of biology with those of the social sciences.”

FirstsHumansHas BeensScienceSocialLossMoralGreaterConditionsHuman NatureFindingsIntellectualSolutionsDeeperBiologyCourageousHuman ConditionConsensusExaminationDilemmaHelplessnessSocial Science
Author:E. O. Wilson
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