The purpose of history is to explain the present - to say why the world around us is the way it is. History tells us what is important in our world, and how it came to be. It tells us what is to be ignored, or discarded. That is true power - profound power. The power to define a whole society.

Discovery is always rape of the natural world. Always.

All major changes are like death. You can't see to the other side until you are there.

They always say they didn't. I never heard of one who said, 'You know, I deserve this.' Never happens.

I was raised with the idea that if you're not smart enough to do science you can do politics.

A wonderful area for speculative academic work is the unknowable. These days religious subjects are in disfavor, but there are still plenty of good topics. The nature of consciousness, the workings of the brain, the origin of aggression, the origin of language, the origin of life on earth, SETI and life on other worlds...this is all great stuff. Wonderful stuff. You can argue it interminably. But it can't be contradicted, because nobody knows the answer to any of these topics.

Cure the symptoms, cure the disease.