Reinventing Life: A Guide to Our Evolutionary Future

Jeffrey Scott Coker’s Reinventing Life would be the textbook for an introductory course on Humanity’s Near Future. Coker’s book begins by laying out the facts of evolution and Humanity’s complete dominance of over the Earth. Coker argues that these two facts make Human’s not only responsible for what the world will look like in the future, but must take our role as stewards of the Earth and the diversity of life on it. His arguments are concise , readable, and convincing; despite having an academic background, his presentation is tailored to the laymen without sacrificing detail or complexity. After laying down this foundation, Coker covers the primary ways in which humans are directing evolution and life on earth: ecological change; cellular change; genetic change; and, finally, creating digital life.

Reinventing Life doesn’t pull punches when it comes to the changes Man is making to life, Coker is up-front with the vast amount of change and damage humans have done, and are doing, to Life and he doesn’t offer easy answers for these dilemmas, because there aren’t easy ones. He lets the reader know what will happen if nothing changes and what the future could be if we do change. For better or worse, his honesty in this matter, and his refusal to reassure the reader, is refreshing on topics that usually are too often sugar-coated. Coker isn’t a pessimist, though he knows, and shares with the reader, all the exciting and wonderful ways Humanity’s ascendent control over the mechanism of evolution and Life itself can not only make homo sapiens’ lives better, but all living things’ lives better.