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You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the Moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, “Look at that, you son of a bitch.” —Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut
We sow hatred of others fueled by what we think is true, or what we want to be true, without regard to what is true. Cultural and political factions battle for the souls of communities and of nations. We’ve lost all sight of what distinguishes facts from opinions. We’re quick with acts of aggression and slow with acts of kindness.
Even when arguing opinions, you may be surprised how potent a rational perspective can be. When illuminated by it, you fast discover that Earth supports not many tribes, but only one—the human tribe.
Do whatever it takes to avoid fooling yourself into believing that something is true when it is false, or that something is false when it is true.
The best way to get famous in your own lifetime is to pose an idea that counters prevailing research and that earns a consistency of observations and experiment.
Healthy disagreement is a natural state on the bleeding edge of discovery.
Objective truths apply to all people, places, and things, as well as all animals, vegetables, and minerals. Some of these truths apply across all of space and time. They are true even when you don’t believe in them.
Objective truths of science are not founded in belief systems. They are not established by the authority of leaders or the power of persuasion. Nor are they learned from repetition or gleaned from magical thinking. To deny objective truths is to be scientifically illiterate, not to be ideologically principled.
Social, political, or legislative attempts to require that everybody agree with your personal truths are ultimately dictatorships.
Earth harbors at least 8.7 million species9 of living organisms, most of which are insects. This staggering diversity of life sprang forth from single-celled organisms four billion years ago. In this very moment a harmonic intersection of Earth’s land, sea, and air supports every one of them. We are all in this together. One genetic family on spaceship Earth. Biology can be beautiful.
A fan once asked twentieth-century sci-fi novelist Ray Bradbury why he imagined bleak futures. Is civilization doomed? He replied, “No. I write about these futures so that you know to avoid them.”13
As we say to students who may be struggling with Astro 101, “The universe is above everyone’s head.” So too may be the most fertile prospects for world peace.
TROPE 3: Republicans are racist, sexist, anti-immigrant homophobes. Democrats embrace all peoples.
TROPE 4: Republicans are true patriots. Liberals are anti-American, and all they want to do is raise taxes and live off government social programs.
This famous line from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner implicitly captures salt’s LD50, contemplated by the thirsty mariner, surrounded by salty ocean water: “Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.”
MAIDEN!
You would need to consume four hundred million pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for its trace amounts of glyphosate to kill you. But after only 20 pints you will die from its sugar content.
What comes to mind is an ad campaign by the Beef Industry Council featuring the actor James Garner in cowboy boots, accompanied by a deep-voiced tagline: “Beef. Real Food for Real People.” In one of several television commercials, he flat-out rejects the veggies on his shish kebob, complaining they always fall off on the grill, while the meat stays firmly on the skewer. Next time, just skip the vegetables. James Garner would later suffer a stroke and ultimately die of coronary heart disease—at age eighty-six.
Not because the deli serves sandwiches that contain dead chickens, dead turkeys, dead pigs, dead cattle, dead salmon, and yes, dead tuna, but because it serves dead dolphins.
Japan eats dolphins.
I shall never claim to have moral standards or beliefs to which my own behavior does not conform.
When putting forth a scientific hypothesis, you should be your own greatest critic. You don’t want colleagues finding holes in your reasoning before you do.
For my thesis.
Temple Grandin doesn’t think like most other humans. In fact, she thinks more the way farm animals do than their farmers. This curious fact led to a life in animal husbandry, culminating in a doctoral degree in animal science from the University of Illinois. Author of more than sixty research papers and a dozen books, in 2010 she was one of the “Time 100” most influential people in the world.23 At age two, her delayed development had led to a formal diagnosis of “brain damaged.” Temple Grandin has autism, a neurological condition that, in her case, informs and nurtures her unique insights into
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If you stalk a carnivore, it could just turn around, stalk back, and eat you instead. One might suspect that any cavemen who craved lion meat were rapidly withdrawn from the gene pool.
The universe wants to kill you too.
Upon death, there’s no evidence that you experience the consciousness you enjoyed while alive.
On the whole, I don’t fear death. Instead, I fear a life where I could have accomplished more.
I beseech you to treasure up in your hearts these my parting words. Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
