Evolution works by selection, not by instruction. There is no final cause, no teleology, no purpose guiding the overall process
Interpretation
Evolution occurs through natural selection rather than a predetermined plan or purpose.
Gerald Edelman's quote emphasizes the fundamental principle of evolution, which is driven by the process of selection among variations rather than a clear, designed instruction or end goal. It suggests that the evolution of life is a complex, unguided process where random mutations and environmental pressures shape species over time, devoid of any inherent purpose or final destination.
In practice
In a discussion about the principles of evolution in a biology class.
I'm convinced that sending people to Mars is so expensive that if you go once and bring the people back and then go again and bring the people back, we're eventually going to run out of money. But what if we send people the first time and they don't come back? What if they stay there?
Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: 'Ye must have faith.'
Scientific research was much like prospecting: you went out and you hunted, armed with your maps and instruments, but in the ened your preparations did not matter, or even your intuition. You needed your luck, and whatever benefits accrued to the diligent, through sheer, grinding hard work.
Mathematics is the key and door to the sciences.
The doubter is a true man of science: he doubts only himself and his interpretations, but he believes in science.
If there is no solace in the fruits of our research, there is at least some consolation in the research itself. Men and women are not content to comfort themselves with tales of gods and giants, or to confine their thoughts to the daily affairs of life; they also build telescopes and satellites and accelerators and sit at their desks for endless hours working out the meaning of the data they gather.
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