“We as a culture are forgetting that we are actually natural organisms and that we have this very, very deep connection and contact with nature. You can’t divorce civilization from nature - we totally depend on it.” CultureNaturalForgetDependsCivilizationConnectionsDivorceContactOrganismsVery DeepDeep Connections Author:James Balog
“Nothing can better express the feelings of the scientist towards the great unity of the laws of nature than in Immanuel Kant's words: "Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing awe: the stars above me and the moral law within me."... Would he, who did not yet know of the evolution of the world of organisms, be shocked that we consider the moral law within us not as something given, a priori, but as something which has arisen by natural evolution, just like the laws of the heavens?” KnowsWorldMindTwoFeelingsLawGivenHeavenStarsNaturalMoralEvolutionScientistUnityTwo ThingsAweOrganismsShockedLaws Of NatureMoral Law Author:Konrad Lorenz
“The cry for freedom is a sign of suppression. It will not cease to ring as long as man feels himself captive. As diverse as the cries for freedom may be, basically they all express one and the same thing: The intolerability of the rigidity of the organism and of the machine-like institutions which create a sharp conflict with the natural feelings for life. Not until there is a social order in which all cries for freedom subside will man have overcome his biological and social crippling, will he have attained genuine freedom.” MenFeelsMayLongFeelingsOrderSocialNaturalFreedomCryConflictMachinesOvercomingInstitutionsRingsGenuineCeaseDiverseOrganismsCaptivesSuppressionSocial OrderRigidityNatural Feelings Author:Wilhelm Reich
“The underlying reason for convergence seems to be that all organisms are under constant scrutiny of natural selection and are also subject to the constraints of the physical and chemical factors that severely limit the action of all inhabitants of the biosphere. Put simply, convergence shows that in a real world not all things are possible.” WorldRealReasonShowsSeemsActionNaturalSubjectsLimitsAll ThingsConstantFactorsChemicalsReal WorldOrganismsSelectionConstraintsNatural SelectionScrutinyConvergenceBiosphere Author:Simon Conway Morris
“The basic formulation, or bare-bones mechanics, of natural selection is a disarmingly simple argument, based on three undeniable facts (overproduction of offspring, variation, and heritability) and one syllogistic inference (natural selection, or the claim that organisms enjoying differential reproductive success will, on average, be those variants that are fortuitously better adapted to changing local environments, and that these variants will then pass their favored traits to offspring by inheritance).” FactsThreeEnjoyNaturalSimpleEnvironmentAtheismArgumentClaimsAverageBonesLocalsTraitsOrganismsMechanicSelectionInheritanceVariationAdaptedNatural SelectionOffspringInference Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“You put three facts together - that all organisms produce more offspring that can survive, that there's variation among organisms, and that at least some of that variation is inherited - and the syllogistic inference is natural selection.” FactsTogetherThreeNaturalProduceOrganismsSelectionVariationNatural SelectionOffspringInference Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“The truth is, natural organisms have managed to do everything we want to do without guzzling fossil fuels, polluting the planet or mortgaging the future.” WantNaturalPlanetsTruth IsFuelOrganismsFossilsFossil FuelBurning Fossil Fuels Author:Janine Benyus
“Where philosophy ends, poetry must commence. There should not be a common point of view, a natural manner of thinking which standsin contrast to art and liberal education, or mere living; that is, one should not conceive of a realm of crudeness beyond the boundaries of education. Every conscious link of an organism should not perceive its limits without a feeling for its unity in relation to the whole. For example, philosophy should not only be contrasted to non-philosophy, but also to poetry.” ThinkingShouldArtEndsPhilosophyWholeFeelingsPoetryNaturalViewsCommonExamplePoetLimitsConsciousRelationPhilosophicalUnityMerePoint Of ViewBoundariesPerceiveRealmsLinksContrastOrganismsLiberal Education Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“If you look into the way that materials are used in an ecological system you'll notice that you'll find that there is no waste. The waste of one organism becomes food for another and everything's recycled in an ecological system whereas in our human built environment there's a throughput system. We use something then we throw it away... We have to imitate nature and try to re-use everything we make as human beings or recycle them - when we cannot re-use or recycle them we should try to reintegrate them back into the natural environment.” IfsWayShouldTryingHumansLooksUseUsedNaturalHuman BeingsEnvironmentMaterialsWasteBuiltOrganismsEcologicalNatural EnvironmentRecycledBuilt Environment Author:Ken Yeang
“"Nothing is ever lost" means that what we are now goes all the way back through natural history. We are biological organisms and not simply computerized brains. By focusing totally on the present, thinking only about science and computers, and forgetting four billion years of life on this planet, we are losing perspective on who and what we are.” ThinkingWayYearsMeanLostNaturalForgetBrainFourPlanetsPerspectiveComputerLosingBillionsOrganismsNatural HistoryYears Of Life Author:Robert Neelly Bellah