Walter Gilbert quotes

We are embedded in a biological world and related to the organisms around us. (Walter Gilbert)
The virtues of science are skepticism and independence of thought. View quote
Walter Gilbert
Biology will relate every human gene to the genes of other animals and bacteria, to this great chain of being. View quote
Walter Gilbert
Why do we do basic research? To learn about ourselves. View quote
Walter Gilbert
The human's place in the universe will be set in the scheme of evolution, the product of our biological inheritance. View quote
Walter Gilbert
[Duesberg] is absolutely correct in saying that no one has proven that AIDS is caused by the AIDS virus. And he is absolutely correct that the virus cultured in the laboratory may not be the cause of AIDS. View quote
Walter Gilbert
The community as a whole doesn't listen patiently to critics who adopt alternative viewpoints. Although the great lesson of history is that knowledge develops through the conflict of viewpoints. View quote
Walter Gilbert
I would not be surprised if there were another cause of AIDS and even that HIV is not involved. View quote
Walter Gilbert
Early on, it's good to develop the ability to write. Learning to write is a useful exercise, even if what you're writing about is not that relevant. View quote
Walter Gilbert
Scientists tend to be skeptical, but the weakness of the community of science is that it tends to move into preformed establishment modes that say this is the only way of doing science, the only valid view. View quote
Walter Gilbert
Everyone wants a hand in the outcome, a piece of the knowledge. (Walter Gilbert)
Science doesn't in the slightest depend on trust. It depends completely on the belief that you can demonstrate something for yourself. View quote
Walter Gilbert
I have the same sense of the power and virtue of knowledge that some people get from a religious background. View quote
Walter Gilbert
In 15 years we'll have all the sequence, a list of the genes everyone has in common and those that differ among people. We know only something like a tenth of 1 percent of the sequence at the moment. View quote
Walter Gilbert
The best project is one that asks a novel question. View quote
Walter Gilbert
Today we try to identify a gene and then study its properties. View quote
Walter Gilbert
We haven't been able yet to determine in terms of genes what makes a human being a human and not another mammal. View quote
Walter Gilbert
It's easier to change what you do than people think it is. If you don't change, your field changes around you. View quote
Walter Gilbert
By asking a novel question that you don't know the answer to, you discover whether you can formulate a way of finding the answer, and you stretch your own mind, and very often you learn something new. View quote
Walter Gilbert
The interaction of the variation in our genes is what's responsible for lots of our attributes and vigor. View quote
Walter Gilbert
We know specific genes are turned on in specific cells, but we don't know to what extent this happens. (Walter Gilbert)
I am afraid that those comments go back to the late 80's. View quote
Walter Gilbert
I am afraid that those comments go back to the late 80's. At that time I was a skeptic - the argument based on Koch's postulates to try to distinguish between cause and association. Today I would regard the success of the many antiviral agents which lower the virus titers (to be expected) and also resolve the failure of the immune system (only expected if the virus is the cause of the failure) as a reasonable proof of the causation argument . View quote
Walter Gilbert
Error is far more common than fraud which probably comprises 1 percent or a tenth of a percent of the literature. View quote
Walter Gilbert