xii, 223 pages ; 24 cm

"What if everything changed and nobody noticed?" Walter Truett Anderson muses in this energetic, intelligent, and strikingly original book, examining the convergence of the biosciences with electronic technologies and the evolutionary impact these developments will have on human life and society. Anderson's task, he maintains, is to convince us that this "bionic convergence" is already happening to us and the world we inhabit. In revealing the capacity of genetic research, environmental management, industrial processes, and information resources that will augment human life, Anderson asks us to consider the questions of ethics and equity that undoubtedly accompany this transition. As new resources emerge, how will we distribute them equally? And what new structures, skills, and values must we develop in order to thrive amidst a staggering range of options?

Evolution Isn't What It Used to Be is a thought-provoking lens focused on our technology-driven world: where we are and where we may be going. Anderson's questions about the future of human life are sharp and provocative, and the answers, he points out, are up to us - as individuals and as a society

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-213) and index

Introduction: What If Everything Changed and Nobody Noticed? -- pt. 1. The Bionic Convergence. Ch. 1. The Computer Meets the Gene. Ch. 2. Microbionics: A Gathering of Revolutionaries. Ch. 3. Macrobionics: The Whole Wired World. Ch. 4. Welcome to the Bio-information Society -- pt. 2. The Changing Life of the Human Body. Ch. 5. Augmentations Old and New. Ch. 6. The Human-Animal Connection. Ch. 7. The Body Politic: Private Lives and Public Issues -- pt. 3. The Evolution of Agriculture and Industry. Ch. 8. Reinventing Agriculture. Ch. 9. Bio-info Industries -- pt. 4. The Changing Life of the Planet Earth. Ch. 10. Human Governance of Natural Biosystems. Ch. 11. Changing Shades of Green. Ch. 12. The Infinite Schoolhouse

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