| Description |
xv, 295 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 26 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Part 1 The hearts of nature -- 1 Nature in the raw, and cooked -- 1.1 The nature of change -- 1.2 Evolving tomorrow -- 2 Selection, naturally and otherwise -- 2.1 Evolution by natural selection -- 2.2 The breeder's equation -- 2.3 Selection in relation to sex -- 3 Ancient forces -- 3.1 Getting from A to T -- 3.2 A history of mutational events -- 4 Evolution's racetracks -- 4.1 Everyday evolution -- 4.2 Experimental evolution -- 5 Evolutionary accelerants and speed bumps -- 5.1 Putting on the brakes -- 5.2 Skirting the limits -- 6 Hijacking genetics -- 6.1 What becomes of an unwelcome guest -- 6.2 What to do -- 7 Genetic welding -- 7.1 A new force of evolution -- 7.2 Genetic time bombs -- 8 On the origin of species -- 8.1 What makes a species -- 8.2 Radiations -- 9 Do-it-yourself speciation -- 10 Ongoing evolutionary outcomes -- 10.1 Show me your teeth -- 10.2 Inputs and outputs -- 10.3 Big and small -- 10.4 Air and ground -- Part 2 Evolutionary futures -- 11 How to evolve a dragon -- 11.1 No myth -- 11.2 Decisions -- 12 Evolutionary engineering in the flesh -- 12.1 Fleshing out a founding stock -- 12.2 Mary Poppins's umbrella -- 12.3 A recipe -- 13 Nature, rewilded -- 13.1 Recall of the wild -- 13.2 Total recall of the wild: de-extinction -- 13.3 Back to the future of the wild: novafauna -- 14 When nature comes to call -- 14.1 Manufacturing destiny -- 14.2 What is nature? -- 15 Inspection by the department of health, safety, and ethics -- 15.1 Restoration and reunion -- 15.2 GMO to GDO -- 15.3 How to think -- 16 When we become dragons -- 16.1 Heritable human genome editing -- 16.2 The echoes of eugenics -- 16.3 How much meddling is too much meddling? -- 17 A midnight coterie of transcendent fauna -- 17.1 Lost world -- 17.2 Defenses of fauna -- 17.3 The change to come -- Index. |
| Summary |
"Explores how humans have manipulated the ancient forces of evolution and the future possibilities of genetic engineering for conservation and rewilding, de-extinction, and even the creation of viable populations of entirely new species. In so doing, this thought-provoking book explores the potential future of life on planet Earth."--Publisher. |
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""Evolving Tomorrow" scrutinizes how evolutionary change happens, how modern-day genetic engineering can influence it, and what consequences we can expect to see in the future of the Anthropocene era. The first half of this book explores how living organisms change over time and how it can happen fast. It explains nature's evolutionary forces, how these forces interplay with genetics, and the intricacies of genetic biotechnologies like CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing. Some genetic engineering with CRISPR-Cas9 gene drives will present a new force of evolution termed "genetic welding" if unleashed into the wild. Extensive real-world examples from nature draw on the author's decades of experience conducting research around the world in the lab and in the field. The second half of the book investigates the applications and implications of manipulating evolution and genetic engineering to alter and create new species. It explores the ecosystem consequences and environmental bioethics of changes to plants and animals, including through de-extinction, rewilding, and invasive species. It deliberates competing perspectives of the meaning of "wild" and "nature." It considers the ethical conundrums of genetic engineering of our own species, including the potential emergence of a new form of eugenics. The ideas developed in this book build the crucial links across evolution, ecology, biotechnology, and ethics to ground how global society will decide how and when it acts to shape the inevitable evolutionary changes that accumulate in the world of tomorrow and throughout the next millennia"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Subject |
Genetic engineering.
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Genetic engineering -- Moral and ethical aspects.
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Evolution (Biology)
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Human ecology.
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Evolution (Biology) (OCoLC)fst00917302
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Genetic engineering (OCoLC)fst00940027
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Human ecology (OCoLC)fst00962941
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| Other Form: |
Electronic version: Cutter, Asher D. Evolving tomorrow. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, Incorporated, [2023] 9780191986871 (OCoLC)1385455792 |
| ISBN |
9780198874522 (hardback) |
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0198874529 (hardback) |
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9780191986871 (ebook) |
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9780198874539 (PDF) |
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