David Christian

Living organisms are created by chemistry. We are huge packages of chemicals. ”

If historians don't tell stories at the scales of creation myths, someone else will. ”

All religions, all indigenous traditions, all origin stories provide a large map of where you are. ”

I have this fantasy that in future negotiations over climate change - instead of going into that room and saying, 'I'm defending Chinese interests,' or 'I'm defending Australian interests' - there will also be an identity inside of each of the negotiators thinking, 'I'm also defending human interests.' ”

We, as extremely complex creatures, desperately need to know this story of how the universe creates complexity and why complexity means vulnerability and fragility. ”

If, in schools, we keep teaching that history is divided into American history and Chinese history and Russian history and Australian history, we're teaching kids that they are divided into tribes. And we're failing to teach them that we also, as human beings, share problems that we need to work together with. ”

I had this feeling that, somehow, we ought to be teaching not just the history of particular nations or particular regions, but the history of humanity. ”

We inhabit an obscure planet, in an obscure galaxy, around an obscure sun, but on the other hand, modern human society represents one of the most complex things we know. ”

In literature classes, you don't learn about genes; in physics classes you don't learn about human evolution. So you get a fragmented view of the world. That makes it hard to find meaning in education. ”