The origin of Homo sapiens, as a tiny twig on an improbable branch of …

Stephen Jay Gould
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The origin of Homo sapiens, as a tiny twig on an improbable branch of a contingent limb on a fortunate tree, lies well below the boundary. ✨ Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History.
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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 never froze entirely during an ice age; because a sm … ▶
Theory-free science makes about as much sense as value-free politics. ✨ Dinosaur in a Haystack: Reflections in Natural History. Book by Stephen Jay Gould, The First Unmasking of Nature, 1995.
Since we proposed punctuated equilibria to explain trends, it is infuriating to be quoted again and again by creationists-whether through design or stupidity, I do not know-as admitting that the foss … ▶
We are the accidental result of an unplanned process ... the fragile result of an enormous concatenation of improbabilities, not the predictable product of any definite process.
With copious evidence ranging from Plato's haughtiness to Beethoven's tirades, we may conclude that the most brilliant people of history tend to be a prickly lot.

The origin of Homo sapiens, as a tiny twig on an improbable branch of a contingent limb on a fortunate tree, lies well below the boundary. ✨ Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History.

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