QuoteProject
Humans are just a very, very small part of the panoply of life, and it is arguable that in a certain sense, humans have emancipated themselves from Darwinian selection.
Richard Dawkins
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects the idea that humans are a minor aspect of the greater spectrum of life and that they have transcended natural selection.

Richard Dawkins expresses the notion that while humans are part of the vast array of life forms on Earth, they have developed in ways that set them apart from the evolutionary processes that govern other species. This perspective encourages a reflection on humanity's role in the world and the unique capabilities that allow for self-determination and adaptation beyond basic survival instincts.

Themes

HumansEvolutionSelectionLifeExistencePhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on evolution and humanity's place in the world.

More from Richard Dawkins

No educated person believes the Adam and Eve myth nowadays, but it's surprising how many parents think that it's somehow fun to pass on this falsehood to their children...I would want to argue that the truth of evolution is more interesting and more poetic
Richard DawkinsRead
If the history-deniers who doubt the fact of evolution are ignorant of biology, those who think the world began less than ten thousand years ago are worst than ignorant, they are the deluded to the point of perversity.
Richard DawkinsRead
The population of the U.S. is nearly 300 million, including many of the best educated, most talented, most resourceful, humane people on earth. By almost any measure of civilised attainment, from Nobel prize-counts on down, the U.S. leads the world by miles.
Richard DawkinsRead
When you make machines that are capable of obeying instructions slavishly, and among those instructions are 'duplicate me' instructions, then of course the system is wide open to exploitation by parasites.
Richard DawkinsRead
Even if not a single fossil has ever been found, the evidence from surviving animals would still overwhelmingly force the conclusion that Darwin was right.
Richard DawkinsRead
The bitter hatreds that now poison Middle Eastern politics are rooted in the real or perceived wrong of the setting up of a Jewish State in an Islamic region. In view of all that the Jews had been through, it must have seemed a fair and humane solution. Probably deep familiarity with the Old Testament had given the European and American decision-makers some sort of idea that this really was the historic homeland of the Jews.
Richard DawkinsRead

Similar quotes

Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years.
Oscar WildeRead
Truth is, I think, if God just gave us our daily bread, many of us would be angry. 'That's all you're going to give me? You're just going to give me enough to sustain me for today? What about tomorrow or next year or 10, 20, 30 years from now? I want to know that I'm set up.' And yet Jesus says just pray for your daily provisions.
Francis ChanRead
If two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary.
Winston ChurchillRead
White supremacy is the conscious or unconscious belief or the investment in the inherent superiority of some, while others are believed to be innately inferior. And it doesn't demand the individual participation of the singular bigot. It is a machine operating in perpetuity, because it doesn't demand that somebody be in place driving.
Michael Eric DysonRead
The supreme end is the freedom of the spirit.
Sri AurobindoRead
Most vagabonds i knowed don't ever want to find the culprit that remains the object of their long relentless quest. The obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending, the pursuit you see and never the arrest" - Tom Waits "Foreign Affairs
Tom WaitsRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.