“It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value.” LongValuesTermClearSurvivalIntelligentIntelligenceLong TermComputer Viruses Author:Stephen Hawking
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change, that lives within the means available and works co-operatively against common threats.” MeanCommonEvolutionSurvivalIntelligentThreatSpeciesAvailableStrongestAdaptabilityAdaptable Author:Charles Darwin
“In fact, one of the arguments for searching for intelligent life in space, elsewhere, is that we have no evidence that intelligence has any survival value. The most successful creatures on this planet are the cockroaches. They've been around, what is it, 100 million years or so and I suspect they'll still be there 100 million years in the future. Maybe intelligence is an evolutionary aberration which dooms its possessors in the way armor may have doomed some of the dinosaurs.” ValuesSuccessfulSurvivalEvidenceArgumentIntelligentElsewhereDoomIntelligent Life Author:Arthur C. Clarke
“I think that intelligence is such a narrow branch of the tree of life - this branch of primates we call humans. No other animal, by our definition, can be considered intelligent. So intelligence can't be all that important for survival, because there are so many animals that don't have what we call intelligence, and they're surviving just fine.” ThinkingHumansImportantAnimalTreeFineSurvivalIntelligentDefinitionsBranchesSurvivingTree Of LifePrimates Author:Neil deGrasse Tyson
“I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of evolution so far, but I think it's a very poor scheme for survival.” ThinkingHumansLiteraturePoorBrainTaughtEvolutionSurvivalGloryIntelligentIntelligenceMemorableSchemesHuman BrainHuman EvolutionBrain ScienceCrowning Glory Author:Kurt Vonnegut
“Intelligence is a valuable thing, but it is not usually the key to survival. Sheer fecundity ... usually counts. The intelligent gorilla doesn't do as well as the less intelligent but more-fecund rat, which doesn't do as well as the still-less-intelligent but still-more-fecund cockroach, which doesn't do as well as the minimally-intelligent but maximally-fecund bacterium.” WellsStillsKeysSurvivalIntelligentValuableSheerRatsBacteriaGorillasCockroachesValuable Things Author:Isaac Asimov
“Man is an animal with primary instincts of survival. Consequently his ingenuity has developed first and his soul afterwards. The progress of science is far ahead of man's ethical behavior.” MenLifeFirstsSoulScienceAnimalProgressBehaviorSurvivalEthicsIntelligentInstinctPrimariesEthicalIngenuityEthical Behavior Author:Charlie Chaplin
“It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.” ValuesSurvivalIntelligentIntelligenceGood LifeProven Author:Arthur C. Clarke
“Human existence may be simpler than we thought. There is no predestination, no unfathomed mystery of life. Demons and gods do not vie for our allegiance. Instead, we are self-made, independent, alone, and fragile, a biological species adapted to live in a biological world. What counts for long-term survival is intelligent self-understanding, based upon a greater independence of thought than that tolerated today even in our most advanced democratic societies.” WorldHumansMayLongMadeSelfTodayUnderstandingTermExistenceGreaterMysterySurvivalIntelligentIndependentIndependenceDemocraticSpeciesToleranceLong TermDemonFragileAllegianceHuman ExistenceAdaptedDemocratic SocietySelf MadeMystery Of LifePredestinationSelf UnderstandingIndependence Of Thought Author:E. O. Wilson
“Faced with a new mutation in an organism, or a fundamental change in its living conditions, the biologist is frequently in no position whatever to predict its future prospects. He has to wait and see. For instance, the hairy mammoth seems to have been an admirable animal, intelligent and well-accoutered. Now that it is extinct, we try to understand why it failed. I doubt that any biologist thinks he could have predicted that failure. Fitness and survival are by nature estimates of past performance.” ThinkingTryingWellsHas BeensSeemsPastScienceWaitingUnderstandingAnimalDoubtConditionsPositionFutureSurvivalPerformancesIntelligentFundamentalsInstanceOrganismsAdmirableProspectsBiologistMutationLiving Conditions Author:George Wald