QOTD — Mary Midgley

…the main thing that blocks our achievements is not lack of talent, which is running to waste all round us, but bad social arrangements and neurotic confusion in individuals.– Mary Midgley, Evolution as a Religion

This particular quote comes from a section where she’s attacking the idea that genetic engineering will produce anything useful. She argues that it’s irresponsible for anyone, least of all a scientist, to blithely think genetic engineering will resolve traits like aggression.

I’ve been reading Midgley as prep for a mini-fellowship organized by the Templeton-Cambridge Science and Religion Journalism fellowship. I was only vaguely familiar with her, from the writings of fellow Fellow Andrew Brown, but she’s fun to read, and raises difficult questions for scientists and non-scientists alike.