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Quote by Matt Ridley

“Our minds have been built by selfish genes, but they have been built to be social, trustworthy and cooperative.”

Quote by Matt Ridley

Author

Matt Ridley is a British journalist, author, and biologist. He is known for his in-depth exploration of science, nature, and human behavior. Born on February 7, 1958, Ridley's career spans multiple disciplines, including economics, genetics, and politics. more

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“Think of it : zillions and zillions of organisms running around, each under the hypnotic spell of a single truth, all these truths identical, and all logically incompatible with one another : 'My hereditary material is the most important material on earth; its survival justifies your frustration, pain, even death'. And you are one of those organisms, living your life in the thrall of a logical absurdity.”

Thinking Important Running Earth Pain Materials Evolution Survival Frustration Justify Logical Spells Organisms Live Your Life Absurdity Identical Hereditary Hypnotic

Book:The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology

Source: The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology

“The interaction of genetic and external influences makes my behaviour unpredictable, but not undetermined. In the gap between those words lies freedom.”

Lying Influence Evolution Gaps Interaction Behaviour Unpredictable External Influences

Author:Matt Ridley

“Society works not because we have consciously invented it, but because it is an ancient product of our evolved predispositions. It is literally in our nature.”

Products Evolution Ancient

Book:The Origins of Virtue

Source: The Origins of Virtue

“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.”

“But nature - that is, biological evolution - has not fitted man to any specific environment. On the contrary, ... he has a rather crude survival kit; and yet -this is the paradox of the human condition - one that fits him to all environments. Among the multitude of animals which scamper, fly, burrow and swim around us, man is the only one who is not locked into his environment. His imagination, his reason, his emotional subtlety and toughness, make it possible for him not to accept the environment but to change it.”

“Because men, compared to male chimps, have such relatively small testicles (large testicles indicate a species where many males mate, one after the other, with the same female), we might guess that promiscuous societies were uncommon in the immediate human past.”

Men Humans Might Past Evolution Female Species Males Mates Uncommon Promiscuous Testicles

Author:Carl Sagan

“Recent discoveries about apes suggest, however, that a gorilla or common chimp stands at least as good a chance being murdered as the average human.”

Humans Chance Common Evolution Discovery Average Apes Gorillas Human Evolution

Book:The Rise And Fall Of The Third Chimpanzee

Source: The Rise And Fall Of The Third Chimpanzee

“Our ancestors were eating meat over 2.5 million years ago. We mainly ate meat, fish, fruits, vegetables and nuts. We have to assume our physiology evolved in association with this diet. The balanced diet for our species was what we could acquire then, not what the government and doctors tell us to eat now.”

“The closer the genetic relationship of the family members, as for example father-to-son, as opposed to uncle-to-nephew, the higher the degree of cooperation.”

Father Example Son Evolution Higher Members Degrees Cooperation Uncles Family Members Father Son Nephew

Author:E. O. Wilson

“Actually, there is a sense in which polygynous marriage has not been the historical norm - even where polygyny is permitted, multiple wives are generally reserved for a relatively few men who can afford them or qualify via formal rank. For eons and eons, most marriages have been monogamous, even though most societies haven't been”

Men Has Beens Wife Havens Evolution Historical Multiple Formal Norm Reserved

Author:Robert Wright