“And, in this case, science could learn an important lesson from the literati — who love contingency for the same basic reason that scientists tend to regard the theme with suspicion. Because, in contingency lies the power of each person, to make a difference in an unconstrained world bristling with possibilities, and nudgeable by the smallest of unpredictable inputs into markedly different channels spelling either vast improvement or potential disaster.”

— Stephen Jay Gould , book The Structure of Evolutionary Theory

Source: The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (2002), p. 1341

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Stephen Jay Gould 274

American evolutionary biologist 1941–2002

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Stephen Jay Gould 274

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