BookRobert A. Norman, Sharad P. Paul.
Summary: This book describes a paradigm shift for all of humanity -- We are at a point where we may be the last generation that is still partially or fully natural. We are often balancing on the precipice between science and science fiction, now ready to tip the scales and slide comfortably into the future of great discoveries and wonderful changes. Many crucial and important questions are addressed in the pages of this book, including: what are the true medical and social problems facing us? Which are the highest value targets we need to focus on to ensure our best route of success? How can we protect our futures and enhance our lives by understanding what it means to be the "last natural humans" to roam this planet? The Last Natural Man combines a fascination with the history of medicine, evolutionary biology, and medical anthropology and mix it with modern medicine and science to investigate how we evolved and where we are headed. The overall result is a clear and engaging guidebook for navigating the often confusing and cloudy waters of the future of medicine and our life on Earth.?? Cultural evolution has been the major driving force over the last several thousand years and enormous in its influence compared to almost invisible changes in our physical adaptations. If cultural and religious evolution was the driver for human history, are we now entering the phase of physical transformation ? where humanity refuses to accept mortality and seeks to make changes to defeat nature. In this book the authors are describing a paradigm shift of all of humanity?just as hunter-gatherers had their stellar features, the future man will have many attractive qualities, even if many artificial. We are often balancing on the precipice between science and science fiction, now ready to tip the scales and slide comfortably into the future of great discoveries and wonderful changes. But are these changes all for the good? What will being human mean.
Contents:
A history of disease and human invention
Germs, genes and geography
Is aging a disease?
Vaccines and prevention
The future of disease: evolution and ecology
Acute vs. chronic illness: how do we decide what to treat or eliminate?
The last natural brain
Biomimicry
The new creationists
The replaceable you
Sensing the future
Moving on
The last chapter
Epilogue.