Our children long for realistic maps of the future that they can be proud of. Where are the cartographers of human purpose?

When permitted to listen to alternative opinions and engage in substantive debate, people have been known to change their minds. It can happen.

The words "question" and "quest" are cognates. Only through inquiry can we discover truth.

Our ancestors worshipped the Sun, and they were not that foolish. It makes sense to revere the Sun and the stars, for we are their children.

All inquires carry with them some element of risk. There is no guarantee that the universe will conform to our predispositions.

Science is much more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking. This is central to its success. Science invites us to let the facts in, even when they don't conform to our preconceptions. It counsels us to carry alternative hypotheses in our heads and see which ones best match the facts. It urges on us a fine balance between no-holds-barred openness to new ideas, however heretical, and the most rigorous skeptical scrutiny of everything - new ideas and established wisdom.

Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.