“What we think of as ‘Physical beauty’ is almost certainly a tag for a complex of useful survival characteristics. Smartness—intelligence—among them.”
Source: I Will Fear No Evil (1970), Chapter 2, p. 35
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Robert A. Heinlein 557
American science fiction author 1907–1988Related quotes

Source: Emotional amoral egoism (2008), p.71

Source: A Brief History of Time (1988), Ch. 1
Context: It has certainly been true in the past that what we call intelligence and scientific discovery have conveyed a survival advantage. It is not so clear that this is still the case: our scientific discoveries may well destroy us all, and even if they don’t, a complete unified theory may not make much difference to our chances of survival. However, provided the universe has evolved in a regular way, we might expect that the reasoning abilities that natural selection has given us would be valid also in our search for a complete unified theory, and so would not lead us to the wrong conclusions.

“The planet has survived everything, in its time. It will certainly survive us.”
Source: Jurassic Park

address given at Fellowship Baptist Church, Waco, Texas, 2004-03-07, quoted in * The case against intelligent design: the faith that dare not speak its name
The New Republic
2005-08-11
Jerry
Coyne
2000s