The uniformity of earth's life, more astonishing than its diversity, is
accountable by the high probability that we derived, originally, from
some single cell, fertilized in a bolt of lightning as the earth
cooled. It is from the progeny of this parent cell that we all take our
looks; we still share genes around, and the resemblance of the enzymes
of grasses to those of whales is in fact a family resemblance.
-- Lewis Thomas
we must move from ... the primacy of technology toward
considerations of social justice and equity from the dictates of
organizational convenience toward the aspirations of self-realization
and learning, from authoritarianism and dogmatism toward more
participation, from uniformity and centralization toward diversity and
pluralism, from the concept of work as hard and unavoidable, from life
as nasty, brutish, and short toward work as purpose and
self-fulfillment, a recognition of leisure as a valid activity in
itself....