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Title: The Future of Life by Ed, Jr. Begley, Edward Osborne Wilson ISBN: 1-59007-084-4 Publisher: New Millennium Audio Pub. Date: February, 2002 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 6 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.08 (40 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A top biologist's prognosis of the future of humanity
Comment: I have more often than not been disappointed by books which deal with the topic(s) of an economically, biologically, and socially sustainable future. Either I was left to wonder whether the scientific or economic evidence put forth was incomplete or suspect, thereby producing unsubstantiated optimism or pessimism, or I have found the policy prescriptions unclear. This eloquent paperback by one of the world's foremost biologists did not leave me disappointed.
On a purely personal note, I found this book to take off where several of my earlier academic and professional experiences had introduced questions. I encountered some of the scientific issues in Wilson's book in my freshman year in college in a course on evolution and, later, in a seminar on recombinant DNA, at the same time when Wilson's pioneering book on sociobiology was published. In my professional life, as a non-scientist, my travels to many of the countries Wilson refers to in this book opened my eyes to some troubling prospects. I have included in various travelogues to friends and family tales of the possibly shortest world record of discovery and extinction of species in the Indian Ocean island Madagascar, and of the probabability, within fifty years or less, of total submersion of island nations in the Pacific like the atolls of Kiribati.
Wilson brings to his analysis of these and other issues of species extinction, climate change, depletion of fresh water and arable land, a rare combination of eloquent, accessible, and level-headed statement of scientific evidence on one hand, and clarity of policy prescription on the other. Both as a non-scientist passionately favorable to a much higher level of scientific literacy among the general public and as a professional committed to international economic development, I was delighted at this exposition on the prospects of humanity.
Wilson is fundamentally optimistic about the options available to deal with pressing environmental challenges, even while he firmly asserts his belief in the clear and present danger of many past and present patterns of production and consumption. He uses an admittedly caricatured dialogue between an "economist" and an "environmentalist" to illustrate purported tensions between prevailing patterns of economic consumption and production and evidence of resource strains on the biosphere. But, unlike some other presentations on similar issues, Wilson does not cast his arguments in simplistic neo-Malthusian terms or in diatribes against globalization. Instead, he coolly appeals to what he considers as a growing consensus among many professionals, scientists, conservationists, economists, and others - with the exception of QUOTE the most politically conservative of their public interpreters UNQUOTE - that the essential facts point to some inevitable choices in how we continue to exploit resources of the biosphere.
While his 12-point policy prescriptions on pages 160-64 may seem broad, and even unsurprising, the strength of his book lies in the fact that he compactly marshals an array of complex scientific and economic evidence while avoiding pretensions of scientific certitude where evidence is lacking. He does not shy from admitting that certain of his positions - shared by many others - for example, on preserving species diversity, cannot be fully supported by scientific evidence or economic argumentation, but he does not shy away from making reasonable and transparent appeals to humanist values. QUOTE The case against humans for the extinction of the megfauna is built solely on circumstantial evidence, but the facts would win at least an indictment in any court of law UNQUOTE I confess I was left unsure how deeply to concerned at his report of the epitaph in a London zoo to the last member of a rare species of snails QUOTE 1.5 MILLION YEARS B.C. TO JANUARY 1996 UNQUOTE
I would not disagree that many of his policy prescriptions or analysis are hardly novel. I am nonetheless encouraged that they are articulated by one of the world's most renowned biologist. Outside of its policy prescriptions, many of the purely scientific speculations in this book are presented with great eloquence. While I clearly enjoyed the entire book, I especially found the first chapter on species diversity enlightening, with its exposition of why the emergence of numerous species in very extreme and isolated terrestrial conditions suggest the high probability of finding life elsewhere in similar conditions elsewhere in our galaxy.
If nothing else, I am sure many readers will enjoy the superb imagery in Wilson's imaginary letter to Henry Thoreau in the preface in which Wilson describes a gargantuan battle between an army of red and black ants so vividly that you can easily imagine the same graphic prose to describe the triumph of a superior army of human enslavers against their vanquished victims whose offspring submit into voluntary servitude at birth from some innate instinct.
Rating: 5
Summary: vision of a radical "conservative"
Comment: E.O. Wilson is one of my heroes. He is radically sensible, and has advocated positions that have drawn the wrath of both the left (sociobiology) and right (environmentalism). "The Future of Life" is a continuation of Wilson's earlier "The Diversity of Life." It is an eloquent diagnosis of our planetary situation, along with an optimistic vision of the future, and should be required reading. Here are some quotes to give you the flavor:
"We are inside a bottleneck of overpopulation and wasteful consumption. If the race is won, humanity can emerge in far better condition than when it entered, and with most of the diversity of life still intact." (xxiii) "The choice is clear: the juggernaut [of technology-based capitalism] will very soon either chew up what remains of the living world, or it will be redirected to save it." (156) "The central problem of the new century ... is to raise the poor to a decent standard of living worldwide while preserving as much of the rest of life as possible." (189)
Wilson's diagnosis is grim, his analysis radical, and yet he is optimistic that these lofty goals can be attained without structural transformations of the social system. He believes that the combination of democratic governments, capitalist economics, and advanced technology can save the planet. Of course that is no endorsement of the status quo! Radical change is necessary, but Wilson is confident that it can take place "within the system." The ace up Wilson's sleeve is the increasingly influential network of non-profit NGOs (non-governmental organizations), groups such as the World Wildlife Fund. The message of "The Future of Life" is that there is a huge job to be done, but it is doable. Let's get to work!
Rating: 3
Summary: Well read, not so well produced
Comment: The reader, Ed Begley, Jr., reads this book clearly and with good phrasing. The abridging is not heavy.
Only one complaint: 6 CDs with NO TRACK INDEX! This means that the CDs are useful for listening to straight through only. The user can only guess which chapter will be on which CD, and there is no way (that I know of) to jump to a specific part of the book on the CD, because there is only one track per CD.
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Title: The Diversity of Life by Edward O. Wilson ISBN: 0393319407 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge by Edward O. Wilson, Edward Osborne Wilson ISBN: 067976867X Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: On Human Nature by Edward O. Wilson ISBN: 067463442X Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 1988 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Biophilia by Edward O. Wilson ISBN: 0674074424 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1986 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Naturalist by Edward O. Wilson ISBN: 0446671991 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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