Evolution Isn't What It Used to Be: The Augmented Animal and the Whole Wired World

Rating:
Summary: A superficial book based on unfair generalizations.
Review: Anderson argues that evolution has accelerated tremendously as a result of the "augmentation" of humans through technology. Because Anderson is so enthralled with technological developments, he doesn't pay much attention to the downside. He breathlessly reports on one invention after another without acknowledging that they don't always work the way they're supposed to. For example, he talks about the wonders of penile implants without saying a word about all the problems people have experienced with them. Anderson talks in grant generalizations that are removed from concrete reality. He likes to think of himself as the practical guy in the middle of the extremists of the right and left, but he is basically setting up straw men; he exhibits little interest in trying to understand where they are really coming from. So, for example, he portrays what he calls "the Far Green" as follows: "By demonizing technology, it renders itself incapable of helping us to understand life in a high-technology, informatizing world." If he stopped to think about what he means by "demonizing technology," he would realize how nonsensical his charge is. There are legitimate criticisms to be made of some environmentalists, but Anderson makes no attempt to evaluate them fairly.

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding book on biotechnology and it future
Review: I've read a lot of books on biotechnology, and I have to say that this is my absolute favorite. Dr. Anderson has tremendous insight, and does a nice job explaining this how this tremendously powerful technology is going to affect all of us, and in fact already does. An excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: A bit slow going, but thought-provoking
Review: The title is misleading for this book in that it is only peripherally concerned with Darwin's theory. The subtitle is only slightly better. The difficulty in naming this book is its interdisciplinary nature. Anderson covers biology, cybernetics, information technology, agriculture, environmentalism, and genetic research. Although all are specialized fields, Anderson shows how they interact with each other cud every one of us. It is an exciting time to be alive, Anderson says.

Like many popular books on science, Evolution starts off slowly. Because Anderson cannot be sure of the background that every reader brings to his book, he spends the first half of each section in a survey of one or two of his inter-connected subjects. Interspersed in the survey are some delectable bits of controversy and discovery, but he saves the items That have the most impact for the last sections. Since the book is organized into four different sections, this makes for a thrilling roller coaster ride through some of the most exiting terrain in science today.

In the first 50 pages, I was somewhat bored by Anderson's prose (he is no David Quammen) and slightly skeptical of his early opinions. At the halfway point I realized that I was reading much more smoothly and often nodding my head at the text. When I found myself quoting this book at a business meeting the next day, I knew I was learning from this book.

Anderson's basic thesis is that humans have taken control of their own evolution, and the mechanisms of this control are the convergence of biology and technology, and seen today in the growing field of biotech. I have long thought that information is the opposite of entropy (in a local sense) and Anderson closely dovetails into this idea with his concept of information being the control mechanism by which we modify our biological environment. In a sense we have done this in the past, through the use of corrective lenses and vaccines. But these are only baby steps compared to the strides we may be capable of shortly.

Anderson's personal background is rooted in the environmental movement (which, if you were unaware of it, you find out in the last section), and his moderate stance on certain issues is quite refreshing compared to the demagoguery we are subjected to daily. While you may disagree with his predictions, it is important to think about and discuss them.