Informing all of Carson's work was the idea that although human beings are part of nature, we are distinguished by our power to alter it irreversibly.

Transcendence is the only real alternative to extinction. This is serious. This may be the ultimate final exam.

In 1920 [H.G. Wells] described human history as becoming more and more a race between education and catastrophe.

We are at an inflection point in history.

The Harvard Law of Animal Behavior holds that under controlled experimental conditions of temperature, time, lighting, feeding, and training, the organism will behave as it damn well pleases.

Informing all of Carson's work was the idea that although human beings are part of nature, we are distinguished by our power to alter it irreversibly.

The inflection point at which we have arrived is one in which we are increasingly seizing the keys to all creation, as astonding as that might seem.