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https://theconversation.com/could-humanity-be-extinct-within-10-000-years-a-new-book-is-the-wake-up-call-our-species-needs-249495>
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Review: The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire: Why Our Species Is on the
Edge of Extinction – Henry Gee (Picador)
In H.G. Wells’ dystopian 1895 novel
The Time Machine an unnamed Victorian
scientist travels to the year 802,701. Instead of finding a flourishing,
enlightened human civilisation reaping the cumulative benefits of millennia of
economic and intellectual growth, he finds a horror scene. Here, gentle humans
called Eloi are now the farmed food for the troglodyte-like Morlocks.
Science writer Henry Gee paints a less horrific but equally worrying picture of
humanity’s future in his book
The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire.
Unlike Wells, Gee doesn’t see the human species capable of surviving longer
than the next 8000-12,000 years.
This number is not an educated guess, or pessimistic opinion. It is based on
statistical analyses that show our species is quickly degenerating amidst the
chaos of our rapidly declining environments.
While all this might sound depressing, this book is a strangely engrossing
read, addictive because of its continuum of interesting facts about our
species’ origins and inevitable decline, and how we have impacted our planet in
many unexpected ways. At times sarcastic, Gee’s book is more than just a
monologue on our future. It could well be the ultimate wake up call to action
for all of us.
A senior editor at
Nature magazine, with a PhD in bovine palaeontology, Gee
is also an accomplished writer of both popular science books and sci-fi novels.
He writes in simple prose garnished with wit and humour, distilling complex
science into an accessible read, a rare craft which won him the 2022 Royal
Society Trivedi Science Book Prize for his previous book,
A (Very) Short
History of Life on Earth.
His new book takes a stoic look at humanity’s ultimate decline. This is
something, he argues, we as a species cannot avoid, due to our damaging impact
on the planet’s many environments, some of which are vital for our future food
security. He does offer some hope for our survival beyond this time-frame, but
it would rely on drastic, unlikely solutions.
The book is organised into three parts: Rise, Fall and Escape. Each details the
story of our unique species from its prehistoric beginnings though to our
success as the dominant mammal on Earth, and finally, to our fate in being too
successful."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
