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by Peter Edward Gretener (Author), Nicholas Martin Gretener (Editor)
The Vanishing of a Species? is a serious treatise exploring the past evolution, present predicament and possible future extinction of a particular species on planet Earth. The species is Homo sapiens. The threat to the species is Homo sapiens. The author, a former professor of geology and geophysics, starts his exploration by putting man in context, both in terms of space and time. We find that in either case, man is not as pre-eminent as he may believe. While man is the most accomplished toolmaker this planet has ever seen, his technical progress is overpowering his social progress-an imbalance that sets the stage for his vanishing act, absent quick, corrective action. The author makes a compelling case that society's unrestricted material growth is the challenge of our times. Modern man's predicament refers broadly to man's collision course with nature-his attitude of ruthless exploitation leading to depletion of non-renewable resources, pollution of the environment, overpopulation, with its accompanying increase in human aggression, and other effects. After the agricultural and industrial-scientific revolutions, it is now time for the Human Revolution-a more realistic attitude on the part of man towards the universe, the earth and other forms of terrestrial life. Vanishing covers a wide spectrum from man's early beginnings to the modern problems of population increase, resource depletion, pollution, crime, and many more. The book addresses the roles that heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) play in shaping man's nature, and in particular, his current high level of aggression-a trait that stands in the way of the Human Revolution. The author calls for the humanists to communicate with the technologists through an interdisciplinary dialogue that may pave the way to the Human Revolution. Major works discussed in Vanishing include the Club of Rome's much reviewed 1972 work The Limits to Growth and updates thereto, as well as C.P. Snow's seminal 1959 lecture on The Two Cultures. Vanishing concludes that without the Human Revolution in short order, Homo sapiens may well turn out to be an evolutionary flash in the pan-occupying a dominating but fleeting position in earth history. Vanishing should appeal to all audiences. Recent economic turmoil around the globe, and increasing evidence of the serious strain placed on the earth by the demands of humankind, make the observations and recommendations raised within Vanishing deserving of the sober attention of all Homo sapiens interested in the survival and prosperity of their species.
