A Natural History of the Future: What the Laws of Biology Tell Us about the Destiny of the Human Species

by Rob Dunn, Anna Petrova (Translator)

Overview

Predstavlyaya buduschee, my obychno voobrazhaem sebya vstroennymi v mehanizirovannuyu ekosistemu, naselennuyu robotami, apparatami i virtualnymi realnostyami. Buduschee raduzhno i tehnologichno, i my, lyudi, — edinstvennye deystvuyuschie litsa v etom prekrasnom mire. Odnako takoe predstavlenie — bolshaya oshibka, zayavlyaet biolog i ekolog Rob Dann. Kak by my ni pytalis podchinit sebe prirodu, my ostaemsya ee chastyu i zavisim ot nee. Pri etom nasha zavisimost vovse ne oznachaet, chto priroda zavisit ot nas: ona spravitsya s lyubymi popytkami cheloveka ignorirovat ee, srazhatsya s ney ili vlastvovat nad ney, a zakony zhizni prodolzhat deystvovat i posle vymiraniya nashego vida. V knige «S nami ili bez nas» Dann rasskazyvaet o biologicheskih zakonah, neprelozhnyh, kak zakony fiziki, o tom, kak menyaetsya okruzhayuschiy nas mir, kakaya uchast ozhidaet izvestnye nam vidy i gde i kak budut formirovatsya novye. Pri etom za dolguyu istoriyu svoey zhizni na planete chelovechestvo nevolno istrebilo dikie vidy, ot kotoryh zaviselo ili moglo zaviset, i odnovremenno sposobstvovalo vozniknoveniyu vidov, sozdayuschih nam nepriyatnosti. Teper, esli my sami hotim vyzhit, nam nado nauchitsya ponimat biologicheskie zakony i podchinyatsya im. Togda nashi shansy prozhit esche 100, 1000 ili dazhe million let znachitelno povysyatsya. Nu, a esli net — chto zh, u ekologov i evolyutsionnyh biologov est dovolno ubeditelnoe vídenie togo, kak budet razvivatsya zhizn na Zemle bez nas...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9785002233632
Publisher:	Alpina Non Fiction
Publication date:	07/02/2024
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	332
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	16 Years
Language:	Russian

About the Author

Rob Dunn is Reynolds Professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University and in the Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics at the University of Copenhagen. He is also the author of seven books. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
 

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Blindsided By Life 15

Chapter 2 Urban Galapagos 37

Chapter 3 The Inadvertent Ark 61

Chapter 4 The Last Escape 75

Chapter 5 The Human Niche 103

Chapter 6 The Intelligence of Crows 123

Chapter 7 Embracing Diversity to Balance Risk 149

Chapter 8 The Law of Dependence 171

Chapter 9 Humpty-Dumpty and the Robotic Sex Bees 191

Chapter 10 Living with Evolution 209

Chapter 11 Not the End of Nature 233

Conclusion No Longer Among the Living 249

Notes 269

Index 289

Editorial Reviews

Dunn’s absorbing analysis advocates making the most of the few certainties we have.”

Scientific American

A timely, thought-provoking analysis, delivered in the affable prose that has become Dunn’s hallmark.”

author of Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid Thor Hanson

A fascinating, shocking, and inspiring guide to the future by one of the most creative and eloquent biologists of our time. Dunn’s book is packed full of insight from the latest scientific discoveries about the wonders and troubles of the living Earth.”
 —David George Haskell, author of The Forest Unseen

Speciations in weird urban habitats, viruses chasing hosts around the globe, and the greatest challenge life on Earth has faced for two million years: this is the fascinating and sobering ecology of the Anthropocene.”
 —Rebecca Wragg Sykes, author of Kindred

From the Publisher

A guide to this complex problem and offers palatable solutions…a clear and important read.”

Science

Make[s] glaringly clear that we are not in command of what we have set in motion.”

The Atlantic

Packed full of insight from the latest scientific discoveries about the wonders and troubles of the living Earth.”

author of The Forest Unseen David George Haskell

Narrator Donald Chang explains how humans have become the dominant species on Earth because they embody Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. This segues into Dunn’s treatise: HOMO SAPIENS is but one species among millions on Earth and may not be the fittest in the future. If viruses and bacteria continue to mutate to reject antibiotics and the pollution of natural resources goes unchecked, these will dominate humankind’s habitats, and we may not survive. Chang’s presentation of the honeybee die-off and the solutions that have been tried to repair the damage to this natural resource is mesmerizing. His pacing, and rhythm remain steady and his voice hopeful that, working together, we can succeed in saving Earth. Listeners will have much to discuss. E.E.S. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2021 - AudioFile

Narrator Donald Chang explains how humans have become the dominant species on Earth because they embody Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. This segues into Dunn’s treatise: HOMO SAPIENS is but one species among millions on Earth and may not be the fittest in the future. If viruses and bacteria continue to mutate to reject antibiotics and the pollution of natural resources goes unchecked, these will dominate humankind’s habitats, and we may not survive. Chang’s presentation of the honeybee die-off and the solutions that have been tried to repair the damage to this natural resource is mesmerizing. His pacing, and rhythm remain steady and his voice hopeful that, working together, we can succeed in saving Earth. Listeners will have much to discuss. E.E.S. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2021 - AudioFile

2021-08-26
A stimulating exploration into how the laws of biology can help us “understand the future into which we are—arms flailing, coal burning, and full speed ahead—hurling ourselves.”

Describing the havoc humans are wreaking on the planet is a fertile subject, but this challenging book focuses on what we think we know about nature but don’t. Dunn, a professor of applied ecology, notes that life is far vaster and unexplored than we imagine and that our default approach to nature seems to be an attempt to hold it back. He adds that those who study nature learn by studying isolated systems such as islands, where ecologists learn how species arrive, evolve, prosper, and go extinct. Recently, they have turned their attention to human-made habitats. The largest are farms and cities. Just as new species appear on islands, the same is true in human ecosystems. Rats, mice, pigeons, and weeds are evolving, and eventually each city will have its own species adapted to the local surroundings. Mostly, they eat, uninvited, from our plates, but humans still prefer these habitats. Today, the entire world is becoming a human ecosystem: Wild animals make up just 3% of the vertebrate biomass; domestic animals make up 65%, and the rest are humans. While cutting down forests and paving swamps, humans also began warming the world, which is good for diseases and parasites. In the near future, thanks to our profligate ways, Earth will be more pleasant for insects and microorganisms and less so for humans. “We can find ways to survive…just not forever,” Dunn warns. “Eventually we will go extinct. All species do.” Dealing reasonably with the circumstances requires knowledge and imagination. The author avoids the usual implausible how-to-fix-it conclusion: worldwide cooperation, self-denial, scientific breakthroughs, unpopular (and therefore unlikely) government actions. Instead, he offers a book that is less doomsday prophecy and more excellent primer on ecology and evolution.

An imaginative, sensible education for those concerned with the fate of the Earth.

Kirkus Reviews