In the vastness of space and the immensity of time, it is my joy to share a planet and an epoch with Annie.

When you look more generally at life on Earth, you find that it is all the same kind of life. There are not many different kinds; there's only one kind. It uses about fifty fundamental biological building blocks, organic molecules.

Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy.

If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.

But I try not to think with my gut. If I'm serious about understanding the world, thinking with anything besides my brain, as tempting as that might be, is likely to get me into trouble.

We can't help it. Life looks for life.

We are at a crossroads in human history. Never before has there been a moment so simultaneously perilous and promising. We are the first species to have taken evolution into our own hands.