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We live in a dancing matrix of viruses; they dart, rather like bees, from organism to organism, from plant to insect to mammal to me and back again, and into the sea, tugging along pieces of this genome, strings of genes from that, transplanting grafts of DNA, passing around heredity as though at a great party.
Lewis Thomas
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote highlights the interconnectedness of life through the transmission of viruses and genetic material across different organisms.

Lewis Thomas uses the metaphor of a 'dancing matrix' to illustrate the complex and dynamic interactions of viruses within the biosphere. He suggests that viruses play a vital role in the genetic exchange amongst organisms, transferring DNA and heredity in a way that resembles a lively social gathering, thereby emphasizing the intricate web of connections that exist in the natural world.

Themes

VirusesGeneticsInterconnectednessOrganismsBiosphere

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about biodiversity, one might use this quote to illustrate the complex relationships among life forms.

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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