Pull to refresh
Logo
Daily Brief
Following Why Ranks Sign Up
Stephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould

Historical Figure, Paleontologist

Appears in 1 story

Notable Quotes

Replay the tape a million times, and I doubt that anything like Homo sapiens would ever evolve again.

Stories

Genomic study reveals predictable patterns in how animals conquered land

New Capabilities

Deceased (2002)

In 1989, paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould argued that if you could rewind evolution and play it again, the results would be utterly different—humanity was a cosmic accident. A study published in Nature on November 12, 2025 offers the most comprehensive counterargument yet: when 11 different animal lineages independently crawled out of the water across 487 million years, they repeatedly evolved the same genetic solutions.

Updated Feb 10