A lecture is much more of a dialogue than many of you probably realize. George Wald More Quotes by George Wald More Quotes From George Wald There are only two possible explanations as to how life arose: Spontaneous generation arising to evolution or a supernatural creative act of God.... There is no other possibility. Spontaneous generation was scientifically disproved 120 years ago by Louis Pasteur and others, but that just leaves us with only one other possibility... that life came as a supernatural act of creation by God, but I can't accept that philosophy because I do not want to believe in God. Therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation leading to evolution. George Wald philosophybelieveyears Dropping those atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a war crime. George Wald hiroshima-and-nagasakibombswar It would be a poor thing to be an atom in a universe without physicists, and physicists are made of atoms. A physicist is an atom's way of knowing about atoms. George Wald knowingscienceway I have lived much of my life among molecules. They are good company. George Wald good-companymoleculescompany Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind. George Wald takencivilizationyears Nuclear weapons offer us nothing but a balance of terror, and a balance of terror is still terror. George Wald nuclearbalancescience I do not want to believe in God. Therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation leading to evolution. George Wald generationswantbelieve All War Departments are now Defense Departments. This is all part of the doubletalk of our time. The aggressor is always on the other side. George Wald defensesideswar The only use for an atomic bomb is to keep somebody else from using one. It can give us no protection - only the doubtful satisfaction of retaliation... George Wald bombsusegiving We are the products of editing, rather than of authorship. George Wald authorshipatheismediting A physicist is an atom's way of knowing about atoms. George Wald knowingwisdomscience The important point is that since the origin of life belongs in the category of at-least-once phenomena, time is on its side. However improbable we regard this event, or any of the steps which it involves, given enough time it will almost certainly happen at least once. And for life as we know it, with its capacity for growth and reproduction, once may be enough. George Wald origin-of-lifegrowthimportant Most modern biologists, having reviewed with satisfaction the downfall of the spontaneous generation hypothesis, yet unwilling to accept the alternative belief in special creation, are left with nothing. George Wald alternativesgenerationsspecial We already know enough to begin to cope with all the major problems that are now threatening human life and much of the rest of life on earth. Our crisis is not a crisis of information; it is a crisis of decision of policy and action. George Wald rest-of-lifedecisionearth The thought that we're in competition with Russians or with Chinese is all a mistake, and trivial. We are one species, with a world to win. George Wald competitionwinningmistake Death seems to have been a rather late invention in evolution. One can go a long way in evolution before encountering an authentic corpse. George Wald sciencelongdeath Evolution advances, not by a priori design, but by the selection of what works best out of whatever choices offer. We are the products of editing, rather than of authorship. George Wald choiceseditingscience When it comes to the origin of life there are only two possibilities: creation or spontaneous generation. There is no third way. Spontaneous generation was disproved one hundred years ago, but that leads us to only one other conclusion, that of supernatural creation. We cannot accept that on philosophical grounds; therefore, we choose to believe the impossible: that life arose spontaneously by chance! George Wald origin-of-lifephilosophicalbelieve I have often had cause to feel that my hands are cleverer than my head. That is a crude way of characterizing the dialectics of experimentation. When it is going well, it is like a quiet conversation with Nature. One asks a question and gets an answer, then one asks the next question and gets the next answer. An experiment is a device to make Nature speak intelligibly. After that, one only has to listen. George Wald naturesciencehands Faced with a new mutation in an organism, or a fundamental change in its living conditions, the biologist is frequently in no position whatever to predict its future prospects. He has to wait and see. For instance, the hairy mammoth seems to have been an admirable animal, intelligent and well-accoutered. Now that it is extinct, we try to understand why it failed. I doubt that any biologist thinks he could have predicted that failure. Fitness and survival are by nature estimates of past performance. George Wald futuresciencethinking
