The worst thing that will probably happen-in fact is already well underway-is not energy depletion, economic collapse, conventional war, or the expansion of totalitarian governments. As terrible as these catastrophes would be for us, they can be repaired in a few generations. The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.
E. O. WilsonOur brain is mapping the world. Often that map is distorted, but it's a map with constant immediate sensory input.
E. O. WilsonTo the extent that philosophical positions both confuse us and close doors to further inquiry, they are likely to be wrong.
E. O. WilsonThe cost of scientific advance is the humbling recognition that reality was not constructed to be easily grasped by the human mind. This is the cardinal tenet of scientific understanding. Our species and its ways of thinking are a product of evolution, not the purpose of evolution.
E. O. WilsonHumanity is exalted not because we are so far above other living creatures, but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of life.
E. O. WilsonThe price of these failures has been a loss of moral consensus, a greater sense of helplessness about the human condition. ... The intellectual solution to the first dilemma can be achieved by a deeper and more courageous examination of human nature that combines the findings of biology with those of the social sciences.
E. O. Wilson