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A review by narrowdesign
Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge by Edward O. Wilson
There was a little story at the end that I couldn't remember but tried to write a version of and liked the detached simplicity:
“Homo sapiens was an upright primate. It was the first organism to possess the potential to improve itself and its environment. Physically and emotionally, it was fragile. It could be lured or repelled by symbols (written or spoken), destroyed slowly and without force by countless microscopic forms of life or slight changes to its environment, or killed quickly by pea-sized condensed matter propelled at 0.000001 the speed of light. It grew concerned it had become too powerful and lost its connection to nature (spelled “God” or “Science” by some groups). This concern was foremost for the survival of Homo sapiens. Individuals and like-minded groups spent their energy in attempts to exist indefinitely in any form (microscopically throughout the DNA, storage devices, and dwellings of as many Homo sapiens as possible, or ideally, as promised by many symbols in storage devices, in an eternal state impervious to existential threat).”
“Homo sapiens was an upright primate. It was the first organism to possess the potential to improve itself and its environment. Physically and emotionally, it was fragile. It could be lured or repelled by symbols (written or spoken), destroyed slowly and without force by countless microscopic forms of life or slight changes to its environment, or killed quickly by pea-sized condensed matter propelled at 0.000001 the speed of light. It grew concerned it had become too powerful and lost its connection to nature (spelled “God” or “Science” by some groups). This concern was foremost for the survival of Homo sapiens. Individuals and like-minded groups spent their energy in attempts to exist indefinitely in any form (microscopically throughout the DNA, storage devices, and dwellings of as many Homo sapiens as possible, or ideally, as promised by many symbols in storage devices, in an eternal state impervious to existential threat).”