Why This Book?

Much ink has been expended on and about the subject of evolution. Leading topics have been the presentation of evolutionary phenomena, their interpretation, or questions of faith as to whether the implementation of a plan of creation is discernible therein. Fundamentally, the contents of this book belong in the first two categories. In fact, only a small portion of the book is devoted to describing the historical course of evolution. The primary focus is on investigating the processes involved. And this is applied with the optimistic aim of deriving insights for meaningful human action over the long term. It is optimistic in the sense that, to all appearances, human society is feverishly engaged in its own extinction. Here, I allude not to the omnipresent issue of climate change, but to far more subtle but intensively conducted developments. One of these developments is increasing mechanization and automation of human activities. Originally promoted to augment human labour, the effects of displacing humans from economic processes are becoming increasingly apparent. Whereas in the beginning it was mainly insufficiently educated people who were affected, in the meantime more and more highly qualified people are being displaced from socioeconomic processes. The ultimate aim of endeavouring to create “artificial intelligence”, or genetically tailoring “perfect humans” beyond genuine therapeutic needs, is the abolition of contemporary humanity. Indirectly, this is an admission that we humans cannot cope with being human.