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Why are rates of conditions like autism, asthma, obesity and allergies exploding at an unprecedented pace? Why are humans living longer, getting smarter and having far fewer children? If Darwin were alive today, how would he explain this new world? Could our children eventually become a different species – or several?
In Evolving Ourselves, futurist Juan Enriquez and scientist Steve Gullans take us on a sweeping tour of how humans are changing the course of evolution – sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. It is a chronicle of where our remarkable new capabilities for altering our bodies, other living creatures, and our environment are taking us in the near term, and introduces the possibility that we might cause our own extinction in the long run.
If Darwin were alive today, he would likely recognize that technology has evolved so far, and so fast, that the origin, evolution, and future of life itself is no longer just driven by natural selection and random mutation. Why are genetic conditions like autism, asthma, and allergies on the rise at unprecedented, biologically impossible speeds? What traits does our world select for, and what does that mean for us? Will our children be a different species?
Today’s humans have altered the nature of our world so much, and developed such profound capabilities for re-crafting our bodies and environment, that random mutation and natural selection are no longer the primary determinants of which species survives and how they change over time. The nature of the evolution of our world is now increasingly defined and driven by: Un-Natural Selection-- where the traits being selected for have little to nothing to do with our ability to survive and thrive--and Non-Random Mutation-- in which drastic changes to our environment wreak havoc on what gene are expressed and passed down.
Evolving Ourselves is the story of how our massive human perturbation and, increasingly, our specific designs and desires are altering life on Earth. It is a chronicle of where our remarkable new capabilities for altering our bodies, other living creatures, and our environment are taking us in the near term, and introduces the possibility that we might cause our own extinction in the long run.
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