Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Gould , Stephen Jay (1990), Wonderful life, W. W. Norton & Company, Retrieved on 2012-05-30
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  • Folksonomies: science

    Memes

    30 MAY 2012

     Humans are Nothing Special

    Asian Homo erectus died without issue and does not enter our immediate ancestry (for we evolved from African populations); Neanderthal people were collateral cousins, perhaps already living in Europe while we emerged in Africa... In other words, we are an improbable and fragile entity, fortunately successful after precarious beginnings as a small population in Africa, not the predictable end result of a global tendency. We are a thing, an item of history, not an embodiment of general principl...
    Folksonomies: evolution
    Folksonomies: evolution
      1  notes

    "We are a thing, an item of history, not an embodiment of general principles."

    30 MAY 2012

     "Run the Tape Again"

    Run the tape again, and let the tiny twig of Homo sapiens expire in Africa. Other hominids may have stood on the threshold of what we know as human possibilities, but many sensible scenarios would never generate our level of mentality. Run the tape again, and this time Neanderthal perishes in Europe and Homo erectus in Asia (as they did in our world). The sole surviving human stock, Homo erectus in Africa, stumbles along for a while, even prospers, but does not speciate and therefore remains ...
    Folksonomies: history evolution meaning
    Folksonomies: history evolution meaning
      1  notes

    We are here by luck, not fate.

    30 MAY 2012

     Taxonomy is About Connecting and Explaining Life

    Taxonomy (the science of classification) is often undervalued as a glorified form of filing—with each species in its folder, like a stamp in its prescribed place in an album; but taxonomy is a fundamental and dynamic science, dedicated to exploring the causes of relationships and similarities among organisms. Classifications are theories about the basis of natural order, not dull catalogues compiled only to avoid chaos.
    Folksonomies: evolution taxonomy
    Folksonomies: evolution taxonomy
      1  notes

    Not just categorizing it.

    Parent Reference