BioFutures and the Legacy of Our Past

This book examines our possible biological future in the light of our evolutionary past. Beginning with out-of-Africa, through the development of agriculture to cities, modern technology and modern social structures, the last 75,000 years or so have been a story of attempts to distance ourselves from nature, to achieve an escape velocity that will liberate us from the gravitational pull of our evolutionary heritage. Much of that has been successful, but it has come at an immense cost to the rest of the planet. If we do not learn to deal with our evolutionary heritage in new ways, then we may shortly become part of the mass extinction event we have started. The problems which beset us – climate change, famine, migration, pandemics – have their origins in our biology. Solutions to these issues must take our biology into account, or they will fail.