The world is full of signals that we do... by Stephen Jay Gould | We Heart Quotes

Author Science scientist Evolution Paleontologist

The world is full of signals that we do not perceive. The tiny creatures live in a different world of unfamiliar forces. Many animals of our scale far exceed the range of our perception of familiar sensations. Bats dodge obstacles by bouncing sound waves of frequencies that I can't hear, though some people can. Many insects see the ultraviolet and follow the invisible 'guides' of flower nectar to what is for them a source of food and pollen that they will carry to the next flower for fertilization (flowers create these color guiding traces in their own benefit, not that of the insects). What little perceptive beings we are! Surrounded by so many fascinating and real things that we don't see (hear, smell, touch, taste) in nature, and yet so gullible and open to the acceptance of new powers that we mistake the tricks of mediocre magicians for perceptions of a world psychic beyond our own. The paranormal can be a fantasy; it is certainly a refuge for many charlatans. But 'parahuman' powers of perception are all around us in birds, bees, and bacteria.

- Stephen Jay Gould

Other quotes by Stephen Jay Gould

World

We pass through this world but once.

- Stephen Jay Gould

Science must be understood as a social phenomenon, a gutsy, human enterprise, not the work of robots programmed to collect pure information.

- Stephen Jay Gould

Science is not a heartless pursuit of objective information; it is a creative human activity.

- Stephen Jay Gould

Evolution

The proof of evolution lies in those adaptations that arise from improbable foundations.

- Stephen Jay Gould

I had learned that a dexterous, opposable thumb stood among the hallmarks of human success. We had maintained, even exaggerated, this important flexibility of our primate forebears, while most mammals had sacrificed it in specializing their digits. Carnivores run, stab, and scratch. My cat may manipulate me psychologically, but he'll never type or play the piano.

- Stephen Jay Gould

Superiority

Look in the mirror, and don't be tempted to equate transient domination with either intrinsic superiority or prospects for extended survival.

- Stephen Jay Gould

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