The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir.

Human beings have a demonstrated talent for self-deception when their emotions are stirred.

We are the only species on the planet, so far as we know, to have invented a communal memory stored neither in our genes nor in our brains. The warehouse of this memory is called the library

I would suggest that science is, at least in my part, informed worship.

There is no other species on Earth that does science. It is, so far, entirely a human invention, evolved by natural selection in the cerebral cortex for one simple reason: it works. It is not perfect. It can be misused. It is only a tool. But it is by far the best tool we have, self-correcting, ongoing, applicable to everything.

There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.

The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space.