“Thus three conclusions emerge from the eye story: (1) it is easier to inherit a ‘vision acquisition device’ than a full-blown hard-wired visual analyser; (2) the visual analyser, once ‘set up’, is refractory to radical restructuring—hence the existence of a… — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
It is an occupational risk of biologists to claim, towards the end of their careers, that the problems which they have not solved are… — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
As an evolutionary biologist, I have learned over the years that most people do not want to see themselves as lumbering robots programmed to… — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
It is in the nature of science that once a position becomes orthodox it should be suggested to criticism.... It does not follow that,… — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
Scientific theories tell us what is possible; myths tell us what is desirable. Both are needed to guide proper action. — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
I can't go around believing in a God that believes suffering is good for me. — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
Evolutionary game theory is a way of thinking about evolution at the phenotypic level when the fitnesses of particular phenotypes depend on their frequencies… — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
Paradoxically, it has turned out that game theory is more readily applied to biology than to the field of economic behavior for which it… — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
This argument [that life is too improbable to have arisen by chance] comes up repeatedly: its latest manifestation is Hoyle's discussion of the likelihood… — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
So far, we have been able to study only one evolving system and we cannot wait for interstellar flight to provide us with a… — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
The evolution of sex is the hardest problem in evolutionary biology. — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is the only workable explanation that has ever been proposed for the remarkable fact of our own… — John Maynard Smith Copy Share Image
![“This argument [that life is too improbable to have arisen by chance] comes up repeatedly: its latest manifestation is Hoyle's discussion of the likelihood of a wind blowing through a junkyard assembling a Boeing 707 [sic]. What is wrong with it? Essentially, it is that no biologist imagines that…” quote by John Maynard Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/8b2/john-maynard-smith-28856_argument_this-argument-that-life-is-too-improbabl_1662785.jpg)
