Wisdom worth sharing, words worth remembering.
I suppose if you look back to your early childhood you accept everything people tell you and that includes a heavy dose of irrationality – you're told about tooth fairies and Father Christmas and things.
For the first half of geological time our ancestors were bacteria. Most creatures still are bacteria and each one of our trillions of cells is a colony of bacteria.
We humans are an extremely important manifestation of the replication bomb because it is through us – through our brains our symbolic culture and our technology – that the explosion may proceed to the next stage and reverberate through deep space.
Science coverage could be improved by the recognition that science is timeless and therefore science stories should not need to be pegged to an item in the news.
Of course in science there are things that are open to doubt and things need to be discussed. But among the things that science does know evolution is about as certain as anything we know.
I am one of those scientists who feels that it is no longer enough just to get on and do science. We have to devote a significant proportion of our time and resources to defending it from deliberate attack from organised ignorance.
The enlightenment is under threat. So is reason. So is truth. So is science especially in the schools of America.
It has become almost a cliche to remark that nobody boasts of ignorance of literature but it is socially acceptable to boast ignorance of science and proudly claim incompetence in mathematics.
Isn't it sad to go to your grave without ever wondering why you were born? Who with such a thought would not spring from bed eager to resume discovering the world and rejoicing to be part of it?
There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it but you can't prove that there aren't any so shouldn't we be agnostic with respect to fairies?
It would be intolerant if I advocated the banning of religion but of course I never have.
Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but we thought if people needed a crutch for consolation where's the harm? September 11th changed all that.
