Dawn of a Millenium: Beyond Evolution and Culture

Arguing that technological progress has far outstripped the evolution of the human brain, the author presents a scholarly yet accessible treatise predicting serious fallout from the pace of human achievement

The human species is no longer drifting down an evolutionary stream, argues Harth, noting that our last significant genetic changes occurred at least 100,000 years ago. The Syracuse University physicist asserts that our ready anger and combative temperament, traits useful to hunter-gatherers, offer little advantage in a modern world facing nuclear holocaust, overpopulation and environmental catastrophe. Harth views near-total nuclear disarmament as a precondition for human survival. He sketches a theory of the autonomous mind arising from a "creative loop," and urges that we take control of our destiny through rational analysis and self-determination. The effect of the reflective essay is diminished by its scattershot approach to topics ranging from evolution, brain research and language to science and magic, acid rain and the storage of radioactive wastes. Illustrations.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Harth (physics, Syracuse Univ.) argues that, through natural selection, humankind evolved into a mammal which has a culture as well as a set of genetic traits. While civilization shelters man from the impact of natural selection, that has its own risks. Superstition, fanaticism, war, and environmental destruction drive humans toward self destruction. Harth's overview of evolution is factual, and based on current scholarship, yet his assessment of humankind's future seems unfocused. He claims the human mind can transcend the limits of its Stone Age body and brain, yet he seems pessimistic about whether human adaptability will be sufficient to cope with rapid culturally driven changes. A secondary purchase for academic and public libraries.-- Laurie Tynan, Montgomery Cty.
Norristown P.L., Pa.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.