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We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth nev...more

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People, as curious primates, dote on concrete objects that can be seen and fondled. God dwells among the details, not in the realm of pure generality....more

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Skepticism is the agent of reason against organized irrationalism--and is therefore one of the keys to human social and civic decency.

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No Geologist worth anything is permanently bound to a desk or laboratory, but the charming notion that true science can only be based on unbiased obse...more

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Scientists have power by virtue of the respect commanded by the discipline... We live with poets and politicians, preachers and philosophers. All have...more

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This new consensus seemed so compelling that Ernst Mayr, the dean of modern Darwinians, opened the ashcan of history for a deposit of Geoffrey's ideas...more

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We have become, by the power of a glorious evolutionary accident called intelligence, the stewards of life's continuity on earth. We did not ask for t...more

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My potential salvation...must remain an unswerving commitment to treat generality only as it emerges from little things that arrest us and open our ey...more

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The human mind delights in finding pattern—so much so that we often mistake coincidence or forced analogy for profound meaning. No other habit of thou...more

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Science tries to record and explain the factual character of the natural world, whereas religion struggles with spiritual and ethical questions about ...more

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Objectivity cannot be equated with mental blankness; rather, objectivity resides in recognizing your preferences and then subjecting them to especiall...more

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I had learned that a dexterous, opposable thumb stood among the hallmarks of human success. We had maintained, even exaggerated, this important flexib...more