# E. O. Wilson **Domain:** Biodiversity / Conservation Biology **Doc Type:** Person Node **Maturity:** Developing ## Definition **E. O. Wilson** was a biologist who argued that humanity's destructive ecological reach demanded a deliberate conservation response. In his April 2010 Prather Lecture at Harvard, he identified habitat loss and other pressures on species while proposing concrete biodiversity protection; the reporting attributes the quoted judgment directly to him. ## Relationships - **Delivered:** [“Biodiversity and the Future of Biology,” the first Prather Lecture reported by *Harvard Gazette* (April 2010)](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/04/settle-down-warns-e-o-wilson/). - **Analyzed:** [[wiki/Ecological Limits|Ecological Limits]] and the conservation challenge associated with species loss. - **Collection and article routes:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]], [[articles/Climate Systems as Human Resilience Platforms|Climate Systems as Human Resilience Platforms]], and [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] supply corpus context, not Wilson's authorship of those articles. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “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* [[reminders/Extinction/Biodiversity Loss Is a Folly Our Descendants Will Not Forgive by E. O. Wilson|Biodiversity Loss Is a Folly Our Descendants Will Not Forgive by E. O. Wilson]] > “We have the power to destroy the world, the living world. And we also have the knowledge to avoid doing it.” > **— E. O. Wilson**, *PBS Bill Moyers Journal interview, July 6, 2007* [[reminders/Human Animality/Humans Can Destroy the Living World by E. O. Wilson|Humans Can Destroy the Living World by E. O. Wilson]]