#evolution

In science's pecking order, evolutionary biology lurks somewhere near the bottom, far closer to phrenology than to physics. For evolutionary biology is a historical science, laden with history's inevitable imponderables. We evolutionary biologists cannot generate a Cretaceous Park to observe exactly what killed the dinosaurs; and, unlike "harder" scientists, we usually cannot resolve issues with a simple experiment, such as adding tube A to tube B and noting the color of the mixture. ↗

— Jerry A. Coyne

#confessions-of-the-darwinists #conjecture #darwin #darwinism #darwinist-confessions

Every man who has in his soul a secret feeling of revolt against any act of the State, of life, or of destiny, is on the verge of riot; and so soon as it appears, he begins to quiver, and to feel himself borne away by the whirlwind. ↗

— Victor Hugo

#riot #life

The Theory of Evolution has more holes in it than a dam made out of Swiss cheese. ↗

— Eoin Colfer

#eoin-colfer #evolution #science #science

The alternative to thinking in evolutionary terms is not to think at all. ↗

— Peter B. Medawar

#science #thinking #science

These mysteries about how we evolved should not distract us from the indisputable fact that we did evolve. ↗

— Jerry A. Coyne

#conclusion-before-evidence #confessions-of-the-darwinists #conjecture #darwin #darwinism

Scientific theories never dictate human values, but they can often cast new light on ethical issues. From a sexual selection viewpoint, moral philosophy and political theory have mostly been attempts to shift male human sexual competitiveness from physical violence to the peaceful accumulation of wealth and status. The rights to life, liberty, and property are cultural inventions that function, in part, to keep males from killing and stealing from one another while they compete to attract sexual partners. ↗

— Geoffrey Miller

#evolution #politics #sex #life

To attempt, to brave, to persist, and persevere, to be faithful to one's self, to wrestle with destiny, to astound the catastrophe by the slight fear which is causes us, now to confront unjust power, again to insult intoxicated victory, to hold firm and withstand -- such is the example which nations need and the light which electrifies them. ↗

— Victor Hugo

#politics #revolution #faith

Fantasy. Lunacy. All revolutions are, until they happen, then they are historical inevitabilities. ↗

— David Mitchell

#history #revolution #fantasy

The more I make love, the more I want to make revolution. The more I make revolution, the more I want to make love. ↗

— Ferlinghetti

#love

I laid my hand on top of theirs, and all I could think was, Is this how revolutions begin? Not with a proclamation or a riot, but with a few people in a room somewhere with their hands clasped and a purpose. ↗

— Laurell K. Hamilton

#revolution