To the extent that philosophical positions both confuse us and close doors to further inquiry, they are likely to be wrong.

Sometimes a concept is baffling not because it is profound but because it is wrong.

The variety of genes on the planet in viruses exceeds, or is likely to exceed, that in all of the rest of life combined.

The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.

I do not have it in for relativism. In many respects I find it a fascinating, even attractive, alternative. It engenders epistemological humility, defeats an arrogant pomposity in belief, even promotes a sort of democratic ideal in matters of knowledge. Perhaps its most comforting feature is that it requires no hard work at all in the matter of justifying beliefs.

Because the living environment is what really sustains us.