HUMAN LIFE 



THE BIOLOGIST AND THE FUTURE 



THE chief goal of science is not merely 

 to describe the phenomena of matter and 

 life; it is to determine by long and close 

 observation and ingenious and repeated 

 experiment the order or regularity of 

 Nature, and hence to arrive at the position 

 of being able to say what will happen 

 under given conditions, in other words, to 

 prophesy. The goal of the biologist 

 however unattainable or most limitedly 

 attainable arrival at it may now seem to 

 be is to be able to speak with confidence 

 of the future behavior or fate of living 

 things; of living things as individuals and 

 as groups and kinds. The biologist 

 really aims at being able sometimes to 

 speak confidently about the future and 

 destiny of humankind. It is well to hitch 

 one's wagon to the stars. A Kansas poet 

 once exclaimed: "I'll wear Aldebaran as 

 a bosom-pin." 



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