Evolving Ourselves How Unnatural Selection And Nonrandom Mutation Are Changing Life On Earth

Recueil factice d'articles de presse et programmes sur les représentations de "l'Idiot", pièce en 5 actes et 6 tableaux de F. Nozière et W. Bienstock, d'après Dostoievski. Th. du Vaudeville, 31 mars 1925

Evolving Ourselves

An eye-opening, mind-bending exploration of how mankind is reshaping its genetic future, based on the viral TED Talk series “Will Our Kids Be a Different Species?” and “The Next Species of Human.” Are you willing to engineer the DNA of your unborn children and grand-children to be healthier? Better looking? More intelligent? Why are rates of autism, asthma, and allergies exploding at an unprecedented pace? Why are humans living longer and having far fewer kids? Futurist Juan Enriquez and scientist Steve Gullans conduct a sweeping tour of how humans are changing the course of evolution for all species—sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. For example: • What if life forms are limited only by the bounds of our imagination? Are designer babies and pets, de-extinction, even entirely newspecies fair game? • As humans, animals, and plants become ever more resistant to disease and aging, what will become the leading causes of death? • Man-machine interfaces may allow humans to live much longer. What will happen when we transfer parts of our “selves” into clones, into stored cells and machines? Though these harbingers of change are deeply unsettling, the authors argue we are also in an epoch of tremendous opportunity. Future humans, perhaps a more diverse, resilient, gentler, and intelligent species, may become better caretakers of the planet—but only if we make the right choices now. Intelligent, provocative, and optimistic, Evolving Ourselves is the ultimate guide to the next phase of life on Earth. Chosen by Nature magazine as a Fall 2016 season highlight.

Evolving Ourselves

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.