p.4 Previous book Wonderful Life "emphasizes that the origin of Homo sapiens must be viewed as such as an unrepeatable particular, not an expected consequence. Full House presents the general argument for denying that progress defines the history defines the history of life or even exists as a general trend at all. ... Life has always been dominated by its bacterial mode."
Life is mostly bacteria. Because bacteria are relatively simple normal variation has a much higher probability (though small) of developing complex life. These are just minor branches off the main evolutionary tree. In other words, there is a left wall that limits variation toward simplicity but no right wall to limit complexity. Evolution depends on local conditions. There is no notion of progress. One can pick and choose to make it seem like evolution progresses, but that is false. This gave me a whole new understanding of our place in the universe.
Gould also considers the loss of .400 batting in baseball. Batting averages have stayed the same but because of the improvement in ability the variation from the mean of about .260 has narrowed making it much more unlikely that someone will hit .400
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