“The human brain became large by natural selection (who knows why, but presumably for good cause). Yet surely most "things" now done by our brains, and essential both to our cultures and to our very survival, are epiphenomena of the computing power of this machine, not genetically grounded Darwinian entities created specifically by natural selection for their current function.” KnowsHumansDoneCultureCausesNaturalBrainEssentialsSurvivalMachinesFunctionCurrentsEntityGroundedSelectionNatural SelectionHuman BrainComputingGood Causes Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“It cannot but happen?that those will survive whose functions happen to be most nearly in equilibrium with the modified aggregate of external forces? This survival of the fittest implies multiplication of the fittest.” HappensForceSurvivalFunctionEquilibriumSurvival Of The FittestMultiplicationExternal Forces Author:Herbert Spencer
“I think of fear as a survival function, and in the stories that I write, the only thing that I've tried to do is provide people with nightmares which are really safe places to put those fears for a while because you can say afterwards that uh, that, that well it was all just make-believe anyway, so I just took my emotions for a walk.” PeopleThinkingWritingBelieveWellsStoriesWalksEmotionSafeSurvivalFunctionNightmareMake BelieveSafe Places Author:Stephen King
“The entire function of man is to survive. The outermost limit of endeavour is creative work. Anything less is too close to simple survival until death happens along. So I am engaged in striving to maintain equilibrium sufficient to at least realize survival in a way to astound the gods.” MenWayHappensRealizingSimpleCreativeLimitsSurvivalFunctionStriveSufficientEngagedEquilibriumEndeavourCreative Work Author:L. Ron Hubbard
“Intuition is like a radio station.. No, intuition is more like a radio receiver and it can receive different stations. This radio receiver serves different functions, it serves your spirituality which is the development of your soul. It serves your physical survival.” DifferentSoulSpiritualityDevelopmentSurvivalFunctionRadioIntuitionYour SoulStationsReceiverRadio Stations Author:Gary Zukav
“One has a more practical survival level, that's the mind function. The heart function obviously has an internal level that has to do with the quality of developing perceptions, feelings, the self. And the spirit level has to do with the pondering part of our lives.” MindHeartSelfFeelingsSpiritLevelsQualityOur LivesPerceptionSurvivalFunctionPracticalsDevelopingInternalsPondering Author:Caroline Myss
“All societies are based on rules to protect pregnant women and young children. All else is surplusage, excrescence, adornment, luxury, or folly which can - and must - be dumped in emergency to preserve this prime function. As racial survival is the only universal morality, no other basic is possible. Attempts to formulate a "perfect society" on any foundation other than "Women and children first!" is not only witless, it is automatically genocidal. Nevertheless, starry-eyed idealists (all of them male) have tried endlessly - and no doubt will keep trying.” TryingFirstsChildrenYoungPerfectDoubtMoralityProtectSurvivalUniversalFunctionFoundationMalesLuxuryPreservesNo DoubtFollyPrimePregnantNeverthelessEmergenciesKeep TryingYoung ChildrenIdealistDumpedPregnant WomenAdornmentPerfect Society Book:Time Enough for Love Source: Time Enough for Love
“A property of an organism enters into its life (and survival) in many different ways, some more salient than others. But there is no simple notion of its being "for" some function.” WayDifferentSimpleSurvivalFunctionPropertyNotionDifferent WaysOrganisms Author:Noam Chomsky
“That which is useless dies. Animals that fail to serve some useful purpose in the scheme of things slowly but surely become extinct. Let any part of the human body cease to perform its ordained function, and it withers-as when an arm is kept long in a sling. This same decree, that nothing useless is permitted to survive, runs through the mind of the industrial world.” WorldMindHumansLongBodyRunningPurposeDiesAnimalFailingFailureArmsSurvivalFunctionCeaseUselessSchemesHuman BodyDecreeSlowly But Surely Author:B. C. Forbes