Unnatural Selection
Why the Geeks Will Inherit the Earth
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Unnatural Selection is the first book to examine the rise of the "technocentric being"—or geek—who personifies a distinct new phase in human evolution. People considered geeks often have behavioral or genetic traits that were previously considered detrimental. But the new environment of the Anthropocene period—the Age of Man—has created a kind of digital greenhouse that actually favors their traits, enabling many non-neurotypical people to bloom. They resonate with the technological Zeitgeist in a way that turns their weaknesses into strengths. Think of Mark Zuckerberg versus the towering, Olympics-bound Winklevoss twins in the movie Social Network.
Roeder suggests that the rise of the geek is not so much the product of Darwinian "natural selection" as of man-made—or unnatural—selection. He explains why geeks have become so phenomenally successful in such a short time and why the process will further accelerate, driven by breakthroughs in genetic engineering, neuropharmacology, and artificial intelligence. His book offers a fascinating synthesis of the latest trends in these fields and predicts a twenty-first century "cognitive arms race" in which new technology will enable everyone to become more intelligent and "geek-like."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Urging Darwin's theory of evolution into the nihilistic, technological obsessed 21st century, Roeder presents the prototype Homo Geektus' as the face of professional success in the digital age. He argues that once pitiable nerds with shy, studious personalities are the new ideal, conditioned to thrive in a cyber culture. The author takes a tone of sarcastic glee yet builds his case with convincing data from various evolutionary ages. The chapter called "The Gift of Weakness" sets the intellectual table, depicting Man's fight for survival in the "technological Greenhouse" instead of a cave as we shift from the nature-based "Holocene" age to the "Unnatural Selection" favoring know-how over physical aggression. Roeder emphasizes the "mutual interaction between the environment and nature," in this case, an invisible but powerful data infrastructures dominated by outsiders whose mental strength allows them to create/alter alternative informational and sensory realities "without asking anyone's permission." Roeder offers a thoughtful, contemplative treatise told with wit and wisdom.
