1097) Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution.
Theodosius Dobzhansky "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in Light of Evolution" in American Biology Teacher (v.35/1973) quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1098) Evolution is a change from a nohowish untalkaboutable all-alikeness, to a somehowish and ingeneral-talkabutable, not-all-alikeness, by continuous somethingelsifications and sticktogetherations
Kirkman, a mathematician cited by P.G. Tait in "Prof Tait on the Formula of Evolution" in Nature (v.23/1880) quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1099) Frozen accidents.
Francis Crick describing the results of evolution by natural selection "The Origin of the Genetic Code" in Journal of Molecular Biology (v.38/1968) quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1100) Biological macromolecules have a storage capacity that exceeds that of the best present-day information stores by several orders of magnitude. For example, the "information density" in the genome of E. coli is about 10e27 bits/m[cubed]
Bernd-Olaf Kuppers Information and the Origin of Life (1990) quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1101) Human beings owe their biological supremacy to the possession of a form of inheritance quite unlike that of other animals: exogenetic or exosomatic heredity. In this form of heredity information is transmitted from one generation to the next through nongenetic channels - by word of mouth, by example, and by other forms of indoctrination; in general, by the entire apparatus of culture.
Peter Medawar "Unnatural Science" in New York Review of Books (2/3/1977) quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1102) Most of what is unusual about man can be summed up in one word: 'culture'.
Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene (1989)
1103) Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperm or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientists hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passes it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain.
Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene (1976) quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1104) We have the power to defy the selfish genes of our birth and, if necessary, the selfish memes of our indoctrination. [...] We are built as gene machines and cultured as meme machines, but we have the power to turn against our creators. We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators.
Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene (1976) quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1105) It is just as foolish to complain that people are selfish and treacherous as it is to complain that the magnetic field does not increase unless the electric field has a curl.
John von Neumann quoted by William Poundstone in The Prisoner's Dilemma (1992) cited by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1106) Scientists have power by virtue of the respect commanded by the discipline. We may therefore be sorely tempted to misuse that power in furthering a person prejudice or social goal - why not provide that extra oomph by extending the umbrella of silence over a personal preference in ethics or politics? But we cannot, lest we lose the very respect that tempted us in the first place.
Stephen Jay Gould Bully for Brontosaurus (1991) quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1107) C.P. Snow, in the Two Cultures, extolled the great discoveries of science as "scientific Shakespeare." But in one way he was fundamentally mistaken, Shakespeare's plays were Shakespeare's plays and no one else's. Scientific discoveries, by contrast, belong - ultimately - to no one in particular.
Nicholas Humphrey "Scientific Shakespeare" in the Guardian (8/26/1987) quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1108) The road to wisdom? Well, it's plain and simple to express: Err and err and err again but less and less and less.
Piet Hein quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1109) Traditional scientific method has always been at the very best, 20-20 hindsight. It's good for seeing where you've been. It's good for testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can't tell you where you ought to go.
Robert M. Pirsig Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974)
1110) Science is wonderful at destroying metaphysical answers, but incapable of providing substitute ones. Science takes away foundations without a replacement. Whether we want to be there or not, science has put us in the position of having to live without foundations. It was shocking when Nietzsche said this, but today it is commonplace; our historical position - and no end to it is in sigh - is that of having to philosophize without "foundations".
Hilary Putnam The Faces of Realism (1987) quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
1111) Is no one inspired by our present picture of the universe? This value of science remains unsung by singers, you are reduced to hearing not a song or poem, but an evening lecture about it. This is not yet a scientific age.
Richard Feynman What Do YOU Care What People Think? (1988) quoted by Daniel C. Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995)
Note: "3089/898" is the designation I've given to the project of posting all my collected quotes, excerpts and ideas (3089 of them) in the remaining days of the Bush administration (of which there were 898 left when I began). As of today, there are 508 days remaining in the administration of the worst American President ever.
absolutist
aggresive
anti-Constitutional
anti-intellectual
arrogant
authoritarian
blame-placers
blameworthy
blinkered
buckpassers
calculating
class warriors
clueless
compassionless
con artists
conniving
conscienceless
conspiratorial
corrupt
craven
criminal
crooked
culpable
damaging
dangerous
deadly
debased
deceitful
delusional
despotic
destructive
devious
disconnected
dishonorable
dishonest
disingenuous
disrespectful
dogmatic
doomed
fanatical
fantasists
felonious
hateful
heinous
hostile to science
hypocritical
ideologues
ignorant
immoral
incompetent
indifferent
inflexible
insensitive
insincere
irrational
isolated
kleptocratic
lacking in empathy
lacking in public spirit
liars
mendacious
misleading
mistrustful
non-rational
not candid
not "reality-based"
not trustworthy
oblivious
oligarchic
opportunistic
out of control
pernicious
perverse
philistine
plutocratic
prevaricating
propagandists
rapacious
relentless
reprehensible
rigid
scandalous
schemers
selfish
secretive
shameless
sleazy
tricky
unAmerican
uncaring
uncivil
uncompromising
unconstitutional
undemocratic
unethical
unpopular
unprincipled
unrealistic
unreliable
unrepresentative
unscientific
unscrupulous
unsympathetic
venal
vile
virtueless
warmongers
wicked
without integrity
wrong-headed
Thanks to: Breeze, Chuck, Ivan Raikov, Kaiju, Kathy, Roger, Shirley, S.M. Dixon
recently seen
i've got a little list...
Elliott Abrams
Steven Abrams (Kansas BofE)
David Addington
Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson
Roger Ailes (FNC)
John Ashcroft
Bob Bennett
William Bennett
Joe Biden
John Bolton
Alan Bonsell (Dover BofE)
Pat Buchanan
Bill Buckingham (Dover BofE)
George W. Bush
Saxby Chambliss
Bruce Chapman (DI)
Dick Cheney
Lynne Cheney
Richard Cohen
The Coors Family
Ann Coulter
Michael Crichton
Lanny Davis
Tom DeLay
William A. Dembski
James Dobson
Leonard Downie (WaPo)
Dinesh D’Souza
Gregg Easterbrook
Jerry Falwell
Douglas Feith
Arthur Finkelstein
Bill Frist
George Gilder
Newt Gingrich
John Gibson (FNC)
Alberto Gonzalez
Rudolph Giuliani
Sean Hannity
Katherine Harris
Fred Hiatt (WaPo)
Christopher Hitchens
David Horowitz
Don Imus
James F. Inhofe
Jesse Jackson
Philip E. Johnson
Daryn Kagan
Joe Klein
Phil Kline
Ron Klink
William Kristol
Ken Lay
Joe Lieberman
Rush Limbaugh
Trent Lott
Frank Luntz
"American Fundamentalists"
by Joel Pelletier
(click on image for more info)
Chris Matthews
Mitch McConnell
Stephen C. Meyer (DI)
Judith Miller (ex-NYT)
Zell Miller
Tom Monaghan
Sun Myung Moon
Roy Moore
Dick Morris
Rupert Murdoch
Ralph Nader
John Negroponte
Grover Norquist
Robert Novak
Ted Olson
Elspeth Reeve (TNR)
Bill O'Reilly
Martin Peretz (TNR)
Richard Perle
Ramesh Ponnuru
Ralph Reed
Pat Robertson
Karl Rove
Tim Russert
Rick Santorum
Richard Mellon Scaife
Antonin Scalia
Joe Scarborough
Susan Schmidt (WaPo)
Bill Schneider
Al Sharpton
Ron Silver
John Solomon (WaPo)
Margaret Spellings
Kenneth Starr
Randall Terry
Clarence Thomas
Richard Thompson (TMLC)
Donald Trump
Richard Viguere
Donald Wildmon
Paul Wolfowitz
Bob Woodward (WaPo)
John Yoo
guest-blogging
All the fine sites I've
guest-blogged for:
Be sure to visit them all!!
recent listening
influences
John Adams
Laurie Anderson
Aphex Twin
Isaac Asimov
Fred Astaire
J.G. Ballard
The Beatles
Busby Berkeley
John Cage
"Catch-22"
Raymond Chandler
Arthur C. Clarke
Elvis Costello
Richard Dawkins
Daniel C. Dennett
Philip K. Dick
Kevin Drum
Brian Eno
Fela
Firesign Theatre
Eliot Gelwan
William Gibson
Philip Glass
David Gordon
Stephen Jay Gould
Dashiell Hammett
"The Harder They Come"
Robert Heinlein
Joseph Heller
Frank Herbert
Douglas Hofstadter
Bill James
Gene Kelly
Stanley Kubrick
Jefferson Airplane
Ursula K. LeGuin
The Marx Brothers
John McPhee
Harry Partch
Michael C. Penta
Monty Python
Orbital
Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
"The Prisoner"
"The Red Shoes"
Steve Reich
Terry Riley
Oliver Sacks
Erik Satie
"Singin' in the Rain"
Stephen Sondheim
The Specials
Morton Subotnick
Talking Heads/David Byrne
Tangerine Dream
Hunter S. Thompson
J.R.R. Tolkien
"2001: A Space Odyssey"
Kurt Vonnegut
Yes
Bullshit, trolling, unthinking knee-jerk dogmatism and the drivel of idiots will be ruthlessly deleted and the posters banned.
Entertaining, interesting, intelligent, informed and informative comments will always be welcome, even when I disagree with them.
I am the sole judge of which of these qualities pertains.
E-mail
All e-mail received is subject to being published on unfutz without identifying names or addresses.
Corrections
I correct typos and other simple errors of grammar, syntax, style and presentation in my posts after the fact without necessarily posting notification of the change.
Substantive textual changes, especially reversals or major corrections, will be noted in an "Update" or a footnote.
Also, illustrations may be added to entries after their initial publication.
the story so far
unfutz: toiling in almost complete obscurity for almost 1500 days
If you read unfutz at least once a week, without fail, your teeth will be whiter and your love life more satisfying.
If you read it daily, I will come to your house, kiss you on the forehead, bathe your feet, and cook pancakes for you, with yummy syrup and everything.
(You might want to keep a watch on me, though, just to avoid the syrup ending up on your feet and the pancakes on your forehead.)
Finally, on a more mundane level, since I don't believe that anyone actually reads this stuff, I make this offer: I'll give five bucks to the first person who contacts me and asks for it -- and, believe me, right now five bucks might as well be five hundred, so this is no trivial offer.