Quotes from Christian de Duve

The war broke out, and for a number of years I lived in darkness, with the memory of the lakes, the trees and the skies of Sweden, until I returned in 1946 to spend two unforgettable years in the laboratory of Hugo Theorell.

life is either a reproducible, almost commonplace manifestation of matter, given certain conditions, or a miracle. Too many steps are involved to allow for something in between.

In the last analysis, it all boils down to a population problem. Most of the ills covered in chapter 12 flow, directly or indirectly, from the fact that there are too many of us now on Earth

When there is contradiction between what science knows and what religion believes, there can be no compromise; religion must yield.

The militant atheism proselytized by authors such as Richard Dawkins, has, in spite of the success of their books, caused hardly a dent in the armor of even the most open-minded believers, who cannot help being shocked by the virulence with which their most sacred beliefs are attacked.

As to the last question, the present situation allows no prediction. One can simply say that there seems to be no objective reason for assuming that hominization has reached an unsurpassable summit.

In their expansion, humans have invaded every part of our planet, from below sea level to the highest mountaintops, from tropical forests to frozen steppes and ice fields, from lush savannahs and prairies to the driest deserts, from the Earth's surface to the depths of oceans, the air above us, and even the Moon and distant space. Unlike other living species, they have not achieved their successes by developing appropriate physical adaptations; they have done it with their intelligence.

Thanks to the growing use of contraceptives, population expansion is slowing down, though not as much as it should.

the exponential pace of human expansion may be about to flatten into a logistic curve, with the limit being set by the finite dimension and resources of planet Earth. This enforced flattening, if it occurs naturally, is bound to be achieved at the cost of enormous human suffering through famine, deprivation, disease, environmental assaults, and internal strife.

Natural selection, this all-powerful driving force of biological evolution, has privileged in our genes traits that were immediately favorable to the survival and proliferation of our ancestors, under the conditions that prevailed there and then, with no regard for later consequences. This is intrinsic to the process of natural selection, which sees only the immediate present and does not foresee the future.

The negative counterpart of those "good" traits has been defensiveness, distrust, competitiveness, and hostility toward the members of other groups, the seeds of the conflicts and wars that landmark the entire history of humanity up to our day.

We enjoy the unique faculty of being able to act against natural selection. The problem is that, in order to do this, we must actively oppose some of our key genetic traits, surmount our own nature.

deeply deplored by many Greens—that one of the first advocates of ecology, James Lovelock, the father of the "Gaia" model, has recently admitted, albeit reluctantly, that the energy requirements of the world will not be met without nuclear power.

Belgium, a pioneer in the development of nuclear power, on which it depends for more than 50 percent of its electricity), the decision has been made to abandon nuclear power, even though no adequate alternatives

Part of the opposition to GMO technology is political and ideological, fuelled by hostility against the perceived ills of capitalism and globalization.

Here is where Darwin's ideas encountered the strongest resistance, lasting up to the present day; they implied a lack of purpose in nature.

in the United States, where public schools are run by local lay authorities, Churches still exert important influence, by way of school boards and other supervising bodies. Their involvement is weaker in Europe, where religious neutrality of the public school system is strictly enforced and respected;

Even in the United States, where public schools are run by local lay authorities, Churches still exert important influence, by way of school boards and other supervising bodies. Their involvement is weaker in Europe, where religious neutrality of the public school system is strictly enforced and respected;

ecumenism, universal brotherhood, and the like. But the very fact of believing implies rejection of different beliefs.

of all that has been learned is clear and indisputable: all known living organisms are descendants from a single common ancestral form.

Evolution is not a theory, contrary to what is often stated, sometimes even by scientists. Evolution is a fact. It was a theory two centuries ago, when Lamarck and Erasmus Darwin first proposed it, just as heliocentrism was a theory in the days of Copernicus and Galileo. Evolution is no longer a theory, just as heliocentrism is no longer a theory; it is a fact.

We have access to practical, ethical and scientifically established methods of birth control. So I think that is the most ethical way to reduce our population.

As long as the origin of life can't be explained in natural terms, the hypothesis of an instant divine creation of life cannot objectively be ruled out.

Intelligent design is simply not a scientific theory. Science is based on the working hypothesis that things are naturally explainable. This may or may not be true. But the only way to find out is to make every possible effort to explain things naturally. Only if one fails—assuming failure can ever be definitely established—would one be entitled to state that what one is studying is not naturally explainable.