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.
Lewis ThomasRead
It is not a simple life to be a single cell, although I have no right to say so, having been a single cell so long ago myself that I have no memory at all of that stage of my life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the complexity and value of life from the perspective of even the simplest forms of existence.
In this quote, Lewis Thomas contemplates the overlooked intricacies of life at its most basic level, the single cell, suggesting that while the life of a single cell may seem simple, it is filled with essential functions and processes. Thomas acknowledges his own lack of memory from that primitive stage, which serves as a reminder of the deep connections and profound mysteries that underpin all life, encouraging a greater respect for even the simplest forms of existence.
Themes
LifeSingle CellComplexityExistenceValue
In practice
Example use cases
During a biology class discussing the origins of life, this quote can be shared to highlight the significance of simplicity in life's complexity.
More from Lewis Thomas
All quotes →I suggest that the introductory courses in science, at all levels from grade school through college, be radically revised. Leave the fundamentals, the so-called basics, aside for a while, and concentrate the attention of all students on the things that are not known.
Lewis ThomasRead
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.
Lewis ThomasRead
Science is founded on uncertainty. Each time we learn something new and surprising, the astonishment comes with the realization that we were wrong before.
Lewis ThomasRead
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.
Lewis ThomasRead
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.
Lewis ThomasRead
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