Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
Charles DarwinRead
It is mere rubbish thinking, at present, of origin of life; one might as well think of origin of matter.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that contemplating the origins of life is as futile as considering the origins of matter, implying limits to our understanding.
In this quote, Charles Darwin reflects on the complexities and challenges inherent in understanding the origins of life. He implies that just as pondering the beginning of matter leads to questions beyond human comprehension, so too does the exploration of life's origin. This assertion serves to highlight the boundaries of human knowledge and the limitations of current scientific inquiry into existential origins.
In practice
This quote can be used in a scientific discussion about the limits of our understanding of life.
Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.
I am quite conscious that my speculations run beyond the bounds of true science....It is a mere rag of an hypothesis with as many flaw[s] & holes as sound parts.
We cannot fathom the marvelous complexity of an organic being; but on the hypothesis here advanced this complexity is much increased. Each living creature must be looked at as a microcosm--a little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars in heaven.
I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.
we are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps
Those who know that the consensus of many centuries has sanctioned the conception that the earth remains at rest in the middle of the heavens as its center, would, I reflected, regard it as an insane pronouncement if I made the opposite assertion that the earth moves.
All matter comes from a primary substance, the luminiferous ether
I'm convinced that a controlled disrespect for authority is essential to a scientist. All the good experimental physicists I have known have had an intense curiosity that no Keep Out sign could mute. Physicists do, of course, show a healthy respect for High Voltage, Radiation, and Liquid Hydrogen signs. They are not reckless. I can think of only six who have been killed on the job.
Science does not limit itself merely to what is currently verifiable. But it is interested in questions that are potentially verifiable (or, rather, falsifiable).
When somebody discovers something like the quadratic formula or the Pythagorean theorem, the convention in science is that he can't control that idea. He has to give it away. He publishes it. What's rewarded in science is dissemination of ideas.
I am on the edge of mysteries and the veil is getting thinner and thinner.
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