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quotations
From the
first primordial bacteria to the present,
myriads of
symbiotically formed organisms have
lived and
died. But the microbial common
denominator remains essentially unchanged.
Our DNA
is derived in an unbroken sequence from
the same
molecules in the earliest cells that formed
at the
edges of the first warm, shallow oceans. Our
bodies, like
those of all life, preserve the environment
of an
earlier earth.
We coexist
with present – day microbes and harbor
remnants of
others, symbiotically subsumed within
our cells.
In this way, the microcosm lives on in us
and we in
it.
- introduction to microcosmos by lynn margulis
Under certain natural circumstances,
favorable variations in living things will
be preserved and unfavorable ones
will be destroyed. The result will be a
new species. This forms a theory by
which to work.
- Charles Darwin
definitions:
THEORY: a
body OF OBSERVATIONS that
have been tested
in CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS
and which explain
HOW the nATURal world
WORKS. Theory is
not personal belief .
if part of a
theory fails to predict nature
it is faulty,
and its arguments must then
be tested by
new experiments. the major
requirement of
scientific theory is that the
conclusion may
not be stated in advance.
the major value
of theory is that it is not
a mere guess, but
a natural law in the
making.
ultimately, a theory suggests new
experiments that
should be done to test it
all over again
more
quotations
“Cheshire
Puss,” said Alice rather timidly,
“would you
tell me please which way I
ought to go
from here?”
“That
depends a good deal on where you
want to get
to,” said the Cheshire Cat.
“ I don’t much
care where – “ said Alice.
“Then it
doesn’t matter which way you go,”
said the Cat.
“- so long as
I get somewhere.” said Alice.
“Oh you’re
bound to do that,” said the Cat,
“if only
you walk long enough.”
from Chapter 6: “ Pig and Pepper” ,
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll.
“ The evidence is that all life forms
that have been examined share the same
genetic code; and the genetic code is too
detailed .. to have been invented twice….
As things stand, it appears that all known
life forms can be traced to a single ancestor
which lived more than 3 billion years ago.
If there were other, independent origins of life,
they left no descendants that we have discovered.”
The Ancestors Tale, --Richard
Dawkins
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