Hi, all.
I agree with Eric's message most of all. Both about the evolution discussion and about ideas from science that change our lives. I, too, can think of too many important insights that thrill me but that do not have immediate behavioral consequences. Although, I think that, since thinking is part of life, if you think differently, you have changed. Ultimately, you can't "think" on and on and not suffer behaviorally. But, indeed, what do we do differently because we are amazed at the connection between other animals and ourselves? I still step on spiders. I won't go saving an endangered species because I appreciate the work Nature has gone through to "create" it.

Let it die out. Maybe nature wants it that way. Incidentally, I would also let it die out if I didn't know the first thing about evolution and did not value the insights it gave me.

So, for me, at least, appreciating insights from science alters my thoughts and my feelings about the universe, but it does not set me to buying different tomatoes.

But still, I have to say that enjoying scientific information and not enjoying certain kinds of work or certain kinds of people do live in the same bubble in my mind. So, although one may not influence the other directly, they are still under the one management.

In general, I am not a practical person and do not care for the practical implications of scientific research. Maybe that is why I can't find such direct connections in my life between the things I know and the things I do. Many of the things I know about the universe, as I said before, thrill me, but only in contemplation. I still live in much the same way as I did before I had any knowledge. And, as we all know, you don't need to know the first thing about any scientific principle to enjoy the labors of its research.

Maya