Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity

Hacking Darwin is a thought-provoking book about the future of our species, exploring the ways genetic-engineering is shaking the core foundations of our lives. It warns of the dangers of a genetic arms race and asks whether we should engineer our future children, extend our lifespans, build life from scratch, and recreate the plant and animal world.

Format: Hardback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 23 April 2019
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc

A gifted and thoughtful writer, Metzl takes us to the frontiers of biology and technology, revealing a world full of promise and peril. — Siddhartha Mukherjee MD, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene Passionate, provocative, and highly illuminating, Hacking Darwin is the must-read book about the future of our species for fans of Homo Deus and The Gene.

After 3.8 billion years, humankind is about to start evolving by new rules. From leading geopolitical expert and technology futurist Jamie Metzl comes a groundbreaking exploration of the many ways genetic engineering is shaking the core foundations of our lives — sex, war, love, and death.

At the dawn of the genetics revolution, our DNA is becoming as readable, writable, and hackable as our information technology. But as humanity starts retooling our own genetic code, the choices we make today will be the difference between realizing breathtaking advances in human well-being and descending into a dangerous and potentially deadly genetic arms race.

Enter the laboratories where scientists are turning science fiction into reality. Look towards a future where our deepest beliefs, morals, religions, and politics are challenged like never before, and the very essence of what it means to be human is at play. When we can engineer our future children, massively extend our lifespans, build life from scratch, and recreate the plant and animal world, should we?

Weight: 550g
Dimension: 233 x 151 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781492670094