This post is about the lost... not out of any sense of the morbid, but out of gratitude they they were among us.
Two years ago when we lost Murray Gell-Mann, I likened it to losing an entire volume of the encyclopedia... as if all of the knowledge encapsulated in volume "P to Re" had simply disappeared from humanity.
What then to say of E.O. Wilson who we lost on Sunday? If losing Gell-Mann was the loss of a volume of the encyclopedia, what metaphor shall serve to encompass the loss of Wilson?
Let it be this: He looked upon the pillar that that holds humanity aloft and separate from the other animals, and reduced it to rubble.
He shows us how thin is the the line between sociology and evolutionary biology, how imaginary the line is between reason and intinct.
Rather than bore you with a recounting of the ways in which Wilson caused us to re-think human nature (and nature vs. nurture), I offer, as homage, this passage of Thoreau... which I think must have brought a smile to Wilson's face whenever he encountered it. (And if you never read any other Thoreau, read this!):
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7697625-i-was-witness-to-events-of-a-less-peaceful-character