Evolving Ourselves: How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth

A sweeping, paradigm-shifting account of how evolution is no longer driven just by nature but also by human choices.

Why are conditions like autism, asthma, obesity, and allergies exploding at unprecedented rates? Why are we living longer, getting smarter, having far fewer kids? If Darwin were alive today, how would he explain this new world?

Today's humans have developed such profound capabilities for redesigning bacteria, plants, animals, and ourselves that random mutation and natural selection are no longer the primary determinants of which species survive and how they change over time. Evolution is now increasingly driven by two forces: unnatural selection (what lives and dies has to do with human desires and choices, not the natural ability to reproduce and thrive) and nonrandom mutation (our techniques have gotten so precise that we can drastically alter the genetics of any life form).

Evolving Ourselves is a chronicle of how life is evolving to meet our specs and choices, of how we can change our own biology, and of the unintended consequences for future generations. It proves that how we use our enormous power over life forms and our ability to engineer new environments will determine nothing less than the survival of humanity.