The Meaning of Human Existence (18 page)

Europa (moon of Jupiter), 106

eusociality, 18–20, 61–75

in humans, 20–21, 61–75, 189–202

evil, 27, 179

evolution, driving forces, 23–24, 61–75, 189–202

existential conservatism, 60

exoplanets, 44–46, 102–9

extinction, 127–32

extraterrestrial life, 102–22

extremist, religion, 154–55

extremophiles, 104–6, 109

faith, religious, 151–58

fishes, electric, 49–50

forces, evolution, 23–24, 61–75, 189–202

Founding Fathers, U.S., 155–56

free will, 159–70

Galileo, 46

gene-culture coevolution, 56

God, 31, 33–34, 148–50

gods, Greek, 43

gossip, 142

habitat, selection, 143–46

Haldane, J. B. S., 66–69

Hamilton, William D., 67–70, 189–202

Hamilton inequality, 67–70, 189–202

Harvard University, faculty, 40–41

hearing, 48

history of life, 56
see also
human prehistory

Hofstadter, Douglas, 166

honeybees, 100

human evolution, 17–26, 43, 58–59, 111

Human Genome Project, 163

humanities, definition, 17, 35–75, 174

humanity, as dysfunctional species, 176–79

human nature, 136–37, 143–46

human prehistory, 17–26, 74–75, 80, 89–90, 111, 175–76

Human Relation Area Files, 143

IF theory (inclusive fitness theory),
see
forces, evolution

inclusive fitness,
see
forces, evolution

instinct, 29–31, 100–101, 135–46

human, 139–46

Kepler space telescope, 106

keystone species, 126

Kierkegaard, Søren, 157

kin selection,
see
forces, evolution

kitten, instinctive play, 43–44

leafcutters, ants, 97–99

Lewis, C. S., 157

Madison, James, 156

mathematics, 142

meaning of “meaning,” 12–16

memory, origin, role, 22–23

microbes, 102–9

microorganisms, 102–9

mind, 24, 159–70

see also
creative arts; culture, origin; Enlightenment; human nature; instinct; pheromones; phobias; senses, human; social intelligence

mole rats, 32, 111

monkeys, 42–43, 114, 175

moral reasoning, 40

Mormonism, 156

moths, pheromones, 48, 84

music, antiquity, 147–48

natural selection, 13–14, 18–19, 28–29

nematodes (roundworms), 105, 125

neuroscience of religion, 148

Nietzsche, Friedrich, 12

Nowak, Martin A., 72–75, 189–202

pangenesis (microbial space travel), 108–9

Paul (prophet), 11

pheromones, 79–91

phobias, 139–42

picozoans, 47, 48, 104, 111

Pius XII, Pope, 153

plants, communication, 88–89

Pledge of Allegiance, U.S., 156

poetry, origin, nature, 41–43

pollinators, social, 100

prehistory, human, 32–34

proximate causation, 15

qualia, 161

racism, 31

religion, 31, 40, 147–58

robots, 33, 58–59, 106, 118, 121

Romney, Mitt, 156

Sagan, Carl, 27

Satan, 33, 183

science, qualities, relation to humanities, 17–18, 44–75

selection forces, evolution, 23–24, 61–75, 189–202

selection, group, 23–24, 29–30

selection, multilevel, 23–24

selection, natural, 14, 18–19, 28–29

selection, volitional, 14

Seneca the Younger, 153

senses, human, 48–50

sin, 30–34, 175–76

SLIMES (deep biosphere), 105

smell, 49, 79–91

snakes:

olfaction, 85

phobia, 141

social intelligence, 22, 23, 30, 32, 43, 75, 116

social networks, 30

soul,
see
mind; religion

sound, communication, 81

spiders, 93, 105, 116, 125, 139–41

spirituality, 148–55

stickleback (fish), 137–38

storytelling, 167–68

success, of ants and termites, 99

superorganisms, 92, 165–66

Tarnita, Corina, 72–74

taste, 49–75, 79–91

taxonomy, 125–26

Teresa of Ávila, Saint, 147

termite societies, 166

theology, 148–49

tolerable parasite load, human, 180

tribalism, 150–54

turtles, instinct, 138–39

ultimate causation, 15

unification, science and humanities, 12, 35–75

Vercors (Jean Bruller), 135

virtue, 30–34

viruses, 47, 104, 108, 111

vision, 48–49

volitional selection, 14, 59
see also other forms under selection

Vostok, Lake, 106

war, 154–55

warning coloration, 81–82

Washington, George, 156

About the Author

EDWARD OSBORNE WILSON
is generally recognized as one of the several leading biologists in the world. He is acknowledged as the creator of two scientific disciplines (island biogeography and sociobiology), three unifying concepts for science and the humanities jointly (biophilia, biodiversity studies, and consilience), and one major technological advance in the study of global biodiversity (the Encyclopedia of Life). Among more than one hundred awards he has received worldwide are the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Crafoord Prize (equivalent of the Nobel, for ecology) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the International Prize of Biology of Japan; and in letters, two Pulitzer Prizes in nonfiction, the Nonino and Serono Prizes of Italy, and the COSMOS prize of Japan. He is currently Honorary Curator in Entomology and University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University.

ALSO BY EDWARD O. WILSON

A Window on Eternity: Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique
(2014)

Letters to a Young Scientist
(2013)

Why We Are Here: Mobile and the Spirit of a Southern City,
with Alex Harris (2012)

The Social Conquest of Earth
(2012)

Kingdom of Ants: José Celestino Mutis and the Dawn of Natural History in the New World,
with José M. Gómez Durán (2011)

The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct,
with Bert Hölldobler (2011)

Anthill: A Novel
(2010)

The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance and Strangeness of Insect Societies,
with Bert Hölldobler (2009)

The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
(2006)

Nature Revealed: Selected Writings, 1949–2006
(2006)

From So Simple a Beginning: The Four Great Books of Darwin,
edited with introductions (2005)

Pheidole
in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Ant Genus
(2003)

The Future of Life
(2002)

Biological Diversity: The Oldest Human Heritage
(1999)

Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge
(1998)

In Search of Nature
(1996)

Naturalist
(1994); new edition, 2006

Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration,
with Bert Hölldobler (1994)

The Diversity of Life
(1992)

Success and Dominance in Ecosystems: The Case of the Social Insects
(1990)

The Ants,
with Bert Hölldobler (1990); Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction, 1991

Biophilia
(1984)

Promethean Fire: Reflections on the Origin of Mind,
with Charles J. Lumsden (1983)

Genes, Mind, and Culture: The Coevolutionary Process,
with Charles J. Lumsden (1981)

Caste and Ecology in the Social Insects,
with George F. Oster (1978)

On Human Nature
(1978); Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction, 1979

Sociobiology: The New Synthesis
(1975); new edition, 2000

The Insect Societies
(1971)

A Primer of Population Biology,
with William H. Bossert (1971)

The Theory of Island Biogeography,
with Robert H. MacArthur (1967)

Copyright © 2014 by Edward O. Wilson

All rights reserved

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