Our Understanding Of The World Is Achieved

Scientific Progress Consists In The Development Of New Concepts.

Most Scientific Problems Are Far Better Understood By Studying Their History Than Their Logic.

All Interpretations Made By A Scientist Are Hypotheses, And All Hypotheses Are Tentative. They Must Forever Be Tested And They Must Be Revised If Found To Be Unsatisfactory. Hence, A Change Of Mind In A Scientist, And Particularly In A Great Scientist, Is Not Only Not A Sign Of Weakness But Rather Evidence For Continuing Attention To The Respective Problem And An Ability To Test The Hypothesis Again And Again.

The Issue, As Correctly Emphasized By Carl Sagan, Is The Probability Of The Evolution Of High Intelligence And An Electronic Civilization On An Inhabited World. Once We Have Life (and Almost Surely It Will Be Very Different From Life On Earth), What Is The Probability Of Its Developing A Lineage With High Intelligence? On Earth, Among Millions Of Lineages Of Organisms And Perhaps 50 Billion Speciation Events, Only One Led To High Intelligence; This Makes Me Believe In Its Utter Improbability.

According To The Concept Of Transformational Evolution, First Clearly Articulated By Lamarck, Evolution Consists Of The Gradual Transformation Of Organisms From One Condition Of Existence To Another.