Children Of Prometheus: The Accelerating Pace Of Human Evolution [Paperback]

Christopher Wills (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 1999

Are we still evolving? Scientists have grappled with this question since the time of Darwin. Now, in this provocative book, biologist Christopher Wills argues that we are not only continuing to evolve but that our pace of change is accelerating. He examines the rapid, short-term evolutionary change taking place in people living at the earth’s extremes (even as babies, Tibetans can draw in more oxygen than lowlanders), and the new physiology of those who participate in extreme sports. But the more we shape our environment, the more it seems to shape us: Whether the future has us wiring our brains into vast electronic databases, or popping “smart drugs” that alter the brain’s very biochemical structure, new environmental pressures are speeding up our evolution in ways that we cannot now predict but that will help us to survive the future.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ever since Darwin published The Descent of Man, we have wondered about the future of our species. Will we separate into H.G. Wells's Morlocks and Eloi, or will we stay pretty much the same? Biologist Christopher Wills tackles this big question in Children of Prometheus , claiming that yes, indeed we are changing in significant ways, despite assertions by many scientists to the contrary.

Evolution can be seen as an improvisational dance performed by DNA and the environment--each equal partners until just a geological moment ago, when one species--ours--began to have a profound impact on the environment, changing everything. Wills describes how we have indirectly slowed, sped up, or stopped (through extinction) the evolution of many species, and suggests that our environmental manipulations are accelerating the rate at which we ourselves are changing with each generation. His lucid explanations of evolutionary mechanisms and heritability studies greatly help non-technical readers grasp his points, but even professional scientists will benefit from his review of the psychogenetic literature. In the end, Children of Prometheus can't tell us what our distant descendents will look like; we can only look in a mirror and wonder how they will differ. --Rob Lightner --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In an eclectic romp through the topic of human evolution, U.C.-San Diego biologist Wills (The Wisdom of the Genes, etc.) focuses on two related questions: Have humans followed the same evolutionary principles as the rest of the mammalian world? And are we still undergoing evolutionary change? He concludes that while the principles have indeed been the same, the rate of human evolution has been dramatically faster than for any of our close relatives and that, if anything, the pace has been speeding up of late. "Humans have accelerated the pace of evolutionary change everywhere, and at the forefront of that change, we are altering ourselves more rapidly than any other species." Wills attributes our rapid pace of change to the way our brains permit us to interact with our environment, the massive amount of environmental change for which we have been responsible over the millennia and the wholesale genetic mixing that is so typical of humans. He traverses broad territory, ranging from hominid phylogeny to a discussion of those who participate in extreme sports; from the physiology of Tibetan Sherpas to an analysis of the stresses faced by British civil servants. He also takes time in his articulate, provocative study to refute, convincingly, many of the claims linking IQ and genetics made in The Bell Curve.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; New edition edition (September 24, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738201685
• ISBN-13: 978-0738201689
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,958,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A complex and rewarding look at the state of human evolution, January 2, 2000

By 

Jake Sapiens - See all my reviews

This review is from: Children Of Prometheus: The Accelerating Pace Of Human Evolution (Paperback)

Christopher Wills puts to rest a common belief that humans, having mastered their environment, have brought their own evolution to a standstill, now exempted from the pressures of natural selection. Humans, through their manipulation of the environment both deliberate and unintended, have actually increased the pace of evolution, both their own and that of other animals. Wills brings the professional knowledge of population genetics to this subject to write a popular science book which will challenge the reader far more than many other popular science books.

He fills the beginning of the book with many insightful examples which hold the attention and educate the reader. Where we encounter more familiar examples, Wills takes the subject several steps deeper in a way which will keep more veteran science readers interested in addition to illuminating Wills' thesis. For example, with the malaria/sickle cell anemia phenomenon, he goes on to show many other patterns of balanced polymorphism and also elaborates on the role that the appearance of human agriculture has played in causing this phenomenon in the first place. His example of the Tibetans evolutionary adaptation to their environment truly fascinated me.

In the next part, he presents a thorough evolutionary account of the emergence of humans from Australopithecus, including useful comparisons with our great ape relatives and some special focus on our recently extinct closest relative, Neandertal. Far more than just a summary of human evolution 101, this section of the book demands the most attention out of the reader. In addition to providing the outline for human evolution, Wills takes the opportunity to introduce the reader to many in depth concepts of population genetics which play crucially into his thesis. Don't feel frustrated if you find yourself needing to reread chapters in this section, where the first part may have breezed by for you. You will miss a lot of Wills' thesis if you drop out at this point. I found the graphics in this section crucial to helping me understand, and I only wish the author and/or publisher had provided more.

Finally the last part presents the final unfolding of Wills' thesis bringing careful attention to the ongoing evolution of human mental capacities, in addition to a keen focus on cultural factors at work. Wills introduces the idea of "culturgen," E.O. Wilson's less popular competing synonym of Richard Dawkins' "meme" in describing interplay between culture and biology. This choice of terms proves apt, however, in that Wills' evolutionary thesis proves far more complex than the conceptual elegance of Dawkins' selfish gene theory.

Wills concentrates far more on population genetics rather than the individual gene. His interest here lies in the unexpressed genetic potential of an individual, in addition to the extended phenotype of expressed genes. He focusses far more on the population, environmental, cultural, developmental and greater genetic contexts in which formerly hidden genetic potential becomes expressed. Instead of natural selection granting a biological reprieve for the human species, it has instead selected for genetic diversity, both hidden and expressed, and Wills explores the ramifications of this. Where Wills' evolutionary outlook lacks the conceptual elegance of selfish gene and selfish meme theory, he more than makes up for it in dealing more directly and realistically with the actual complexities of human evolutionary realities.

This book stands as one of the more challenging and rewarding popular science books to deal with human evolution.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I had higher hopes than this book delivered., January 14, 2000

By 

SuperApis (Brookline, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Children Of Prometheus: The Accelerating Pace Of Human Evolution (Paperback)

As an evolutionary biologist working on insects, I had turned to this book to help fill in some gaps in my conceptualization of how evolution and selection may be affecting humans today. But while I don't think this book is poorly written or of no merit, I had a hard time getting much from it. In fact, I got more from the review of the anthropological research regarding fossil discoveries than from any of Will's attempts at synthesis.

For me, the biggest flaw of the book is a lack of a true vision of what "evolution" actually MEANS in this context. As obvious or as simple as it sounds, there is never much discussion of this fundamentally key issue. Instead, examples and speculation are given that the gene pool of Homo sapiens is changing, and allele frequencies of many genes are undoubtedly different than they were millenia ago. It takes a whole book to make this one point, yet from there, the only synthesis Will can make is that because allele frequencies are changing, therefore selection MUST be acting on them. Mostly speculative with little in the way of support, his treatment of an interesting topic just falls short. In other words, it's all bun and no burger. It may still be worth reading, as it is written very clearly and without the pitfalls of scientific jargon...making it a brief read. But I think you could do much better than to use this as your source for intellectual inquiry...I'm going to look around from something better.

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Experts on Everything, April 24, 2008

By 

Stubborn Artist (Napa CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Children Of Prometheus: The Accelerating Pace Of Human Evolution (Paperback)

This book isn't entirely worthless -- but it illustrates the tendency of scientific specialists to think that they're experts on everything. Wills not only professes to know evolutionary biology: he knows everything else as well.

Except that he doesn't.

To avoid tedium, I'll just give one example. While talking about the genetic isolation of the European Neandertal, Wills mentions by way of analogy a "mysterious" people who speak a "mysterious" language called Ladin. How mysterious!

Wills even tells us that these origins are very mysterious.

But there's really nothing mysterious about them at all. Ladin is a Romance language, no more mysterious than French and Italian. As the name should indicate, Ladin comes from Latin. Duh.

And so science marches on!