In the fullness of time, educated people will believe there is no soul independent of the body, and hence no life after death.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that as knowledge increases, the belief in an independent soul and life after death will diminish.
Francis Crick's quote reflects the idea that as humanity becomes more educated and understands more about the biological basis of life, the notion of an independent soul separate from the body will fall out of favor. Crick implies that knowledge and science will lead people to believe that consciousness is strictly tied to the physical form, questioning traditional views about an afterlife and spiritual existence.
In practice
During a debate about consciousness and spirituality, this quote could illustrate a scientific viewpoint.
One can say, looking at the papers in this symposium, that the elucidation of the genetic code is indeed a great achievement. It is, in a sense, the key to molecular biology because it shows how the great polymer languages, the nucleic acid language and the protein language, are linked together.
Exact knowledge is the enemy of vitalism.
A theory should not attempt to explain all the facts, because some of the facts are wrong
It is essential to understand our brains in some detail if we are to assess correctly our place in this vast and complicated universe we see all around us.
To produce a really good biological theory one must try to see through the clutter produced by evolution to the basic mechanisms lying beneath them, realizing that they are likely to be overlaid by other, secondary mechanisms. What seems to physicists to be a hopelessly complicated process may have been what nature found simplest, because nature could only build on what was already there.
It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.
Religious distress is at the same time the expression of the real distress and also the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of the spiritless condition. It is the opium of the people.
Whether in chains or in laurels, liberty knows nothing but _x000D_ victories.
To kill a man will be considered as disgusting [in the twentieth century] as we in this day consider it disgusting to eat one.
As immigrants, we understand better than most that to be an American is a privilege that conveys not just rights but responsibilities.
If only everyone could know and live with their inner craziness. Would the world be a worse place for it? No, people would be fairer and happier.
Voyages are accomplished inwardly.
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