. . . we are a spectacular, splendid manifestation
of life. We have language and can build metaphors
as skillfully and precisely as ribosomes make proteins.
We have affection. We have genes for usefulness,
and usefulness is about as close to a “common goal”
of nature as I can guess at. And finally, and perhaps
best of all, we have music.

Lewis Thomas (1913-1994)
“The Youngest and Brightest Thing Around” in
The Medusa and the Snail (1979)