The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “Lewis Thomas”

In Praise of Being Wrong: Lewis Thomas on the Value of Generative Mistakes
In Praise of Being Wrong: Lewis Thomas on the Value of Generative Mistakes

In praise of our “property of error, spontaneous, uncontrolled, and rich in possibilities.”

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The Fragile Species: A Forgotten Masterpiece of Perspective on How to Live with Ourselves and Each Other
The Fragile Species: A Forgotten Masterpiece of Perspective on How to Live with Ourselves and Each Other

“We need a better word than chance… To go all the way from a clone of archaebacteria, in just 3.7 billion years, to the B-Minor Mass and the Late Quartets, deserves a better technical term for the record than randomness.”

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How a Jellyfish and a Sea Slug Illuminate the Mystery of the Self
How a Jellyfish and a Sea Slug Illuminate the Mystery of the Self

A humbling evolutionary antidote to the hubris of exceptionalism, with a side of etymology.

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The Wonders of Possibility: Lewis Thomas on Our Human Potential and Our Cosmic Responsibility to the Planet and to Ourselves
The Wonders of Possibility: Lewis Thomas on Our Human Potential and Our Cosmic Responsibility to the Planet and to Ourselves

“We are in for one surprise after another if we keep at it and keep alive. We can build structures for human society never seen before, thoughts never thought before, music never heard before.”

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The Poetics of Smell as a Mode of Knowledge
The Poetics of Smell as a Mode of Knowledge

“The act of smelling something, anything, is remarkably like the act of thinking itself.”

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Love, Music, Solitude, and How to Be More Alive: The Best of The Marginalian 2022
Love, Music, Solitude, and How to Be More Alive: The Best of The Marginalian 2022

From Emily Dickinson to Bruce Springsteen, by way of galaxies and gardening.

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How to Punctuate with Style: Lewis Thomas’s Charming Meditation on the Subtleties of Language
How to Punctuate with Style: Lewis Thomas’s Charming Meditation on the Subtleties of Language

“If you want to use a cliché you must take full responsibility for it yourself and not try to fob it off on anon., or on society.”

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The Scientific Poetics of Affection: Lewis Thomas on Altruism and Why We Are Wired for Friendship
The Scientific Poetics of Affection: Lewis Thomas on Altruism and Why We Are Wired for Friendship

“Left to ourselves, mechanistic and autonomic, we hanker for friends… Maybe altruism is our most primitive attribute, out of reach, beyond our control.”

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Alchemy and the Transmutation of Ignorance Into Truth: Lewis Thomas’s Prescient 1983 Manifesto for the Humanity-Saving Value of Social Science
Alchemy and the Transmutation of Ignorance Into Truth: Lewis Thomas’s Prescient 1983 Manifesto for the Humanity-Saving Value of Social Science

“In all of nature there is nothing so threatening to humanity as humanity itself.”

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