James Lovelock Quotes

If the views I have expressed be right, we can think of our civilization evolving with the growth of knowledge from small wandering tribes to large settled law.

It is common to think of our own time as standing on the apex of human history.

It is just because civilization is ever evolving, changing, and becoming more complicated, that experts find it so difficult to define it in explicit terms.

If I write something set 60 years in the future, I am going to have to explain how humanity got there, and that's becoming quite a big job.

Our civilization has evolved through the continuous adjustment of society to the stimulus of new knowledge.

We are not overpopulated in an absolute sense; we've got the technology for 10 billion, probably 15 billion people, to live on this planet and live good lives. What we haven't done is developed our technology.

Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.

I think there is a general unrest or curiosity about what a human future is going to be like, and whether the way we're living is even sustainable.

With science, technology and globalization, man is changing the world faster than his evolution can keep up with the new dangers.

We should explore ways to make us a more amazing species. A more fascinating society. We should embrace our innovations and evolve with them.

The longer a region is in contact with modern civilization, the higher the degree to which the society in the region is civilized.

Science and technology are the keys to both our longevity and our demise. Our entire existence on this planet is a double-edged sword.

But, it has something to do with having belief in a human future and what that human future is. What is the future of humanity? How does this whole experiment not self-destruct with the environment and everything else going on?

The computer is a mechanism for acceleration: it accelerates economic activity, and this is eating up the world. It's eating up resources, it's processing, it's manufacturing, it's distributing, it's consuming. That's what the computer's real work does, and it does that 24/7, 365 days a year, non-stop, just to satisfy our own narrow needs.

I think there is some kind of disillusionment in the West about the gains of modernity and of economic growth and it takes a form of skepticism about the gains of prosperity generally.

Homo sapiens, you and me, we are basically the same as people 10,000 years ago. The next revolution will change that.

Since the Industrial Revolution, we tend to use technology to show our power: you know, we build high-rises, towers, big buildings that become symbols of power and capitalism. We don't talk about how emotions and nature can be connected.

Society is changing constantly, and changing faster than we think.

In this post-industrial society, when we're moving away from what was the norm, we have to deal with what it has left in its wake in terms of the impact on people and the environment.

It's quite possible that the end of us will not be the end of the Earth. Even if we really screw things up and things go badly for us and our civilization, the Earth is pretty resilient.

Humanity as a species must change dramatically and radically or our survival is at stake.

We hope that as a species we're capable of dealing with environmental catastrophe before it actually does collectively kill most of us.

No discovery of mine has made, or is likely to make, directly or indirectly, for good or ill, the least difference to the amenity of the world.

Our society is turning toward more and more needless consumption. It is a vicious circle that I compare to cancer . . . . Should we eliminate suffering, diseases? The idea is beautiful, but perhaps not a benefit for the long term. We should not allow our dread of diseases to endanger the future of our species. . . . In order to stabilize world population, we need to eliminate 350,000 people a day. It is a horrible thing to say, but it's just as bad not to say it.

There has never yet been a human society worthy of the name of civilization. Civilization remains a remote ideal.