# Biodiversity Loss Is a Folly Our Descendants Will Not Forgive by E. O. Wilson > “The radical reduction in the world’s biodiversity is a folly our descendants will never forgive us for.” > **— E. O. Wilson**, *Prather Lecture, Harvard University, 2010* ## Sources and Context - **Contemporaneous lecture report:** [Harvard Gazette, “‘Settle down,’ warns E.O. Wilson” (April 6, 2010)](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/04/settle-down-warns-e-o-wilson/). The report directly quotes Wilson at his April 5 Prather Lecture and also records his view that conservation is possible. The sentence addresses biodiversity loss and responsibility to descendants, not a prediction of certain extinction. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/Climate Systems as Human Resilience Platforms|Climate Systems as Human Resilience Platforms]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Ecological Limits|Ecological Limits]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/E. O. Wilson|E. O. Wilson]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “The radical reduction in the world’s biodiversity is a folly our descendants will never forgive us for.” — E. O. Wilson, Prather Lecture, Harvard University, 2010 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-wilson-biodiversity-loss-folly ```