I can say, if I like, that social insects behave like the working parts of an immense central nervous system: the termite colony is an enormous brain on millions of legs; the individual termite is a mobile neurone.
Lewis ThomasRead
Survival, in the cool economics of biology, means simply the persistence of one's own genes in the generations to follow.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Survival is fundamentally about ensuring the continuation of one's genetic legacy.
The quote by Lewis Thomas highlights a biological perspective on survival, implying that the essence of life is to pass on genetic material to subsequent generations. This view frames survival not just in terms of individual existence but as a broader evolutionary imperative, where success is measured by the enduring presence of one's genes in the lineage that follows.
Themes
SurvivalGenesBiologyEvolutionLegacy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of biodiversity and genetic diversity in ecosystems.
More from Lewis Thomas
All quotes βI suggest that the introductory courses in science, at all levels from grade school through college, be radically revised. Leave the fundamentals, the so-called basics, aside for a while, and concentrate the attention of all students on the things that are not known.
Lewis ThomasRead
I maintain, despite the moment's evidence against the claim, that we are born and grow up with a fondness for each other, and we have genes for that. We can be talked out of it, for the genetic message is like a distant music, and some of us are hard-of-hearing. Societies are noisy affairs, drowning out the sound of ourselves and our connection.
Lewis ThomasRead
Science is founded on uncertainty. Each time we learn something new and surprising, the astonishment comes with the realization that we were wrong before.
Lewis ThomasRead
It is the very strangeness of nature that makes science engrossing. That ought to be at the center of science teaching. There are more than seven-times-seven types of ambiguity in science, awaiting analysis. The poetry of Wallace Stevens is crystal-clear alongside the genetic code.
Lewis ThomasRead
In the fields I know best, among the life sciences, it is required that the most expert and sophisticated minds be capable of changing course - often with a great lurch - every few years.
Lewis ThomasRead
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