The most outstanding scientific discovery of the 20th century is not the radio or television, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only those that know the most about it can appreciate how little is known about it. The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant What good is it? If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like, but do not understand, then who but a fool would disregard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.

Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac 1946