Our Final Century?: Will the Human Race Survive the Twenty-first Century? - Hardcover

Rees, Martin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0434008095 ISBN 13: 9780434008094

Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd, 2003

Synopsis

It is suggested that we may be on the verge of destroying the planet on which we live. Whilst discussing various topics, including genetically engineered viruses, nanotechnology and pollution-induced envrionmental catastrophe, Sir Martin Rees demonstrates the risks we are taking, as well as the enormous difficulties of imposing limits upon them.

About this title

Review

Just when you've stopped worrying, along comes Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, with teeming armies of deadly viruses, nanobots, and armed fanatics in Our Final Century.

Beyond the hazards most of us know about--smallpox, terrorists, global warming--Rees introduces the new threats of the 21st century and the unholy political and scientific alliances that have made them possible. He spells out doomsday scenarios for cosmic collisions, high-energy experiments gone wrong, and self-replicating machines that steadily devour the biosphere. If we can avoid driving ourselves to extinction, he writes, a glorious future awaits; if not, our devices may very well destroy the universe.

What happens here on Earth, in this century, could conceivably make the difference between a near eternity filled with ever more complex and subtle forms of life and one filled with nothing but base matter.

For many technological debacles, Rees places much of the blame squarely on the shoulders of the scientists who participate in perfecting environmental destruction, biological menaces, and ever-more powerful weapons. So is there any hope for humanity? Rees is vaguely optimistic on this point, offering solutions that would require a level of worldwide cooperation humans have yet to exhibit. If the daily news isn't enough to make you want to crawl under a rock, this book will do the trick. --Therese Littleton

Review

'I have to take his arguments seriously... Rees is a clear, entertaining and thought-provoking author.’ -- Financial Times

'Rees is at his most learned and fluent when discussing these risk calculations... he writes with rare clarity and conciseness' -- Matt Ridley in the Sunday Telegraph

'Terrifying... Impassioned... not just a catalogue of scare stories but a clarion call for scientists to come together...' -- John Cornwell in the Sunday Times

‘That a scientist so distinguished as Rees should air these fierce anxieties is a sign that something is amiss.’ -- J G Ballard in the Daily Telegraph

Edition details

• Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0434008095
• ISBN 13: 9780434008094
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240