Parable of the pebble

Listen:

In my view, the biosphere is unpredictable for the very same reason--nothing more nor less--that the particular configuration of atoms constituting this pebble I have in my hand is unpredictable. No one will fault a universal theory for not affirming and foreseeing the existence of this particular configuration of atoms; its enough for us that this actual object, unique and real, be compatible with the theory. This object, according to theory, is under no obligation to exist; but it has the right to.

That is enough for us as concerns the pebble, but not as concerns ourselves. We would like to think ourselves necessary, inevitable, ordained from all eternity. All religions, nearly all philosophies, and even a part of science testify to the unwearying, heroic effort of mankind desperately denying its own contingency. (p44)

Chance & Necessity

Jacques Monod