Malcom's reply was immediate: "What makes you think human beings are sentient and aware? There's no evidence for it. Human beings never thing for themselves, they find it too uncomfortable. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they were told---and become upsetif they are exposed to any different view. The characteristic result is religious warfare. Other animals fight for territory or food, but, uniquely in the animal kingdom, human beings fight for their "beliefs". The reason is that beliefs guide behavior, which has evolutionary importance among human beings. But at a time when our behavior may well lead us to extinction, I see no reason to assume that we have any awareness at all. We are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is just a self-congratulatory delusion. Next question."

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transcribed from The Lost World, p7-8
by Michael Crichton.