Biocivilisations
A New Look at the Science of Life
by Predrag B. Slijepčević
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Pub Date May 18 2023 | Archive Date May 11 2023
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Description
Biocivilisations is an important, original rethinking of the mystery of life and its deep uncertainty, exploring the complex civilisations that existed on Earth long before humans.
*With a Foreword by Vandana Shiva
What is life? Many scientists believe life can be reduced to ‘mechanistic’ factors, such as genes and information codes. Yet there is a growing army of scientists, philosophers and artists who reject this view. The gene metaphor is not only too simplistic but deeply misleading. If there is a way to reduce life to a single principle, that principle must acknowledge the creativity of life, turning genetic determinism on its head.
The term biocivilisations is the acknowledgement of this uncertainty of life, as opposed to a quasi-certainty of the human position governed by a narrow time window of the scientific revolution. Life existed without humans for more than 99.99 percent of the Earth’s existence. Life will also continue without humans long after our inevitable extinction.
In Biocivilisations, Dr Predrag Slijepčević shows how bacteria, amoebas, plants, insects, birds, whales, elephants and countless other species not only preceded human beings but demonstrate elements of how we celebrate human civilisation – complex communication, agriculture, science, art, medicine and more.
Humans must try to adopt this wisdom from other biocivilisations that have long preceded our own. By rethinking the current scientific paradigm, Dr Slijepčević makes clear that a transformation – from a naïve young species into a more mature species in tune with its surroundings – will save us from our own violence and the violence we inflict on the rest of our living planet.
Advance Praise
"A powerful and welcome synthesis . . . Biocivilisations vigorously dismantles modern strains of scientific and cultural anthropocentrism and their current avatars peddling the futurist delusions of Singularity buffs and AI transhumanists. . . I highly recommend for those who would like to get up to speed on the most cogent contemporary challenges to the physicalist-mechanistic technoscientific mainstream.”
—Bruce Clarke, Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor of Literature and Science, Texas Tech University, Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology
“In Biocivilisations, Predrag B. Slijepčević tells stories about animals that create art, insects that do battlefield surgery, trees that perform scientific research, bacteria that create intelligent networks, and whole ecosystems that are organized with an efficiency that surpasses any human supply chain. Maybe you thought humans were the crown of creation. Maybe we humans have to learn humility and respect for the biosphere that birthed us. Maybe our future depends on it.”
—Josh Mitteldorf, PhD, coauthor of Cracking the Aging Code
"An unusually thought-provoking and ambitious book. . . . Anyone who cares about our future on earth has good reason to read this fascinating and highly original book.”
—Dr. James A. Shapiro, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Chicago; author of Evolution: A View from the 21st Century
Available Editions
EDITION | Paperback |
ISBN | 9781645021384 |
PRICE | $24.95 (USD) |
PAGES | 272 |
Available on NetGalley
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