That's one of two epigraphs at the beginning of Chapter 6 of From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution , "The Myth of Extraterrestrials," by Simon Conway Morris. It seemed odd to me when I started reading the book, but it makes some sense now that I've made it to the end.

Before I explain the rot at the heart of this chapter (Chapter 5 of From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution , "The Myth of Animal Minds," by Simon Conway Morris), I'd like to show you my workspace as I sullenly trudge toward the end of this task. That's my fun little Chromebook 2-in-1, and the barely-visible tartan mouse pad is from my dad.

It's one of the most famous misquoted lines in the English language, spoken by Lady Gertrude (Hamlet's mom) during the intense scene featuring a play ("The Mousetrap" aka The Murder of Gonzago) within a play, intended by Hamlet to be "the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King." The character in "The Mousetrap" has delivered some sappy lines about commitment and widowhood, designed to flush out the King and Gertrude.

There are some truly vexing and annoying myths of evolution. They are almost exclusively recited and embellished by religious propagandists, some of whom actually know what they're doing. Rarely but notably, there are myths that are gleefully repeated by creationists while being amplified by scientists who should know better.

If you read about natural history, even just popular accounts, you know about the epic mass extinctions visited on the living world throughout life's tenure on Earth. Words like 'devastating' and 'catastrophic' barely capture their scale—the most thorough purge is called The Great Dying and extinguished at least 95% of the species on the planet. And this isn't just animals dying. It's whole lineages dying.

Morpho butterflies are emblematic species of the Amazonian rainforest known for their metallic shades of blue and green. Despite their conspicuous looks and fascinating biology, large-scale genome sequencing efforts have somewhat neglected them – until now.

The concept of randomness is caught up in evolution, in two broad ways. The first and most famous aspect is the oft-misunderstood randomness of mutation. The second aspect is the role of chance in the trajectory of evolution. It is this question—is evolution predictable, or is it a random "drunkard's walk"—that Conway Morris tackles in the second chapter of From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution.

One motivation for relaunching Quintessence of Dust was my desire to write about things I'm reading, whether books or articles. So here is the second (late) entry in my new series, What I'm reading , posted at the start of every month. Fiction Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman Continued from April.

7/10/2023 UPDATE: I have discovered other authors came up with this idea before me, as noted by Press and Phoenix¹¹. At least two authors have mentioned it: in the context of mistletoes¹²; and a North American root hemiparasite, Triphysaria ¹³. However, as far as I can tell the hypothesis has never been tested.

Warning: this post includes spoilers for Black Widow , Avengers: Endgame , and Spider-Man: No Way Home . Seems a small price to pay to understand the biophysical limits of the biosphere, but it's your call. So, are you sure you want that superpower? Have you noticed that superheroes usually have difficult lives and crushing responsibilities?