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The Shattered Self: The End of Natural Evolution
Throughout history, we have selected and manipulated the genomes of plants, animals, and even ourselves. Until now, however, such control could be exerted only at the level of the entire organism. Scientific and technological advances now allow us to manipulate genomes directly at the level of single genes and their constituents, with a speed and precision that far exceed what natural evolution has been able to achieve over the past 3.5 billion years. These advances open new possibilities for medicine, biotechnology, and society as a whole. We already have in vitro fertilization and animal cloning; in the future human cloning and the exploitation of embryonic stem cells, among other capabilities, may be routine. At the same time, we are developing machines that will surpass the human brain in raw computing power and building an interconnected world of information-processing devices that makes science fiction pale in comparison. In this book Baldi explores what it is about these phenomena that makes us so uneasythe shattering of the human self as we know it.
Through evolution our brains have been wired to provide us with an inner sense of self, a feeling that each of us is a unique individual delimited by precise boundaries. We have also been wired to reproduce ourselves in a certain way. Baldi argues that this self-centered view of the world is scientifically wrong. Its past success lies in its being an adequate model during our evolutionary a world without molecular biotechnology, human cloning, and the Internet. Eventually we must come to terms with the fact that genomes, computations, and mind are fluid, continuous entities, in both space and time. The boundary between the self and the world has begun to blur and ultimately may evaporate entirely. Baldi offers not predictions but an open-eyed exploration of our current state of knowledge and the possibilities that lie ahead.
Through evolution our brains have been wired to provide us with an inner sense of self, a feeling that each of us is a unique individual delimited by precise boundaries. We have also been wired to reproduce ourselves in a certain way. Baldi argues that this self-centered view of the world is scientifically wrong. Its past success lies in its being an adequate model during our evolutionary a world without molecular biotechnology, human cloning, and the Internet. Eventually we must come to terms with the fact that genomes, computations, and mind are fluid, continuous entities, in both space and time. The boundary between the self and the world has begun to blur and ultimately may evaporate entirely. Baldi offers not predictions but an open-eyed exploration of our current state of knowledge and the possibilities that lie ahead.
245 pages, Hardcover
First published April 16, 2001
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About the author
Pierre Baldi
6 books1 followerPierre Baldi is Professor of Information and Computer Science and of Biological Chemistry (College of Medicine) and Director of the Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics at the University of California, Irvine.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 12, 2019
Speculative science of the highest order
"We do not know who we are, but we know enough to know we are not who we think we are."
This quote on page xiii (from Baldi himself, I imagine) sets the tone for this extraordinary book which is an excursion into the future of ourselves and the world we are making. The emphasis is on biology, genetics, computer science and information technology including brain science and how discoveries in these fields are changing our lives and our very concept of self.
What Baldi does so very well is to take current tendencies in these fields to their logical conclusion, and to look fearlessly at the results. This will be unpleasant reading for some, especially for those who see our species as fixed, a permanent endowment from a supernatural being. Baldi's general point is that we are forever changing. With the end of natural evolution upon us, so that we feel the full force of cultural evolution, the pace of change is rapidly accelerating. The result of this will be that, come some not too distant future, we will indeed be something strikingly different from what we are now.
In progressive religious circles it is said that we are "becoming." Usually it is not said what we are becoming, because that is not known. Baldi makes the same statement from the viewpoint of science. Through the rapidly accelerating power of culture evolution, we are in the process of "becoming" that which we cannot as yet clearly see.
"[O]ur notions of self, life and death, intelligence, and sexuality are very primitive and on the verge of being profoundly altered...It is this shattering...that forms the central thread of this book." (p. 3) The idea that "each of us is a unique individual delimited by precise boundaries" is wrong. With the advent of technologies stemming from science we will see that these boundaries are artificial as we are cloned and joined with silicon parts and machine intelligence, and as we become more and more attached to the Internet.
This is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World for real, but Baldi's is not a dystopian vision, rather his is a vision of great hope and excitement. He believes that "genomes, computations, and minds are...continuous entities, both in space and in time," and that we, individually, "are just samples of this continuum." (p. 4)
This is a startling view of the world and ourselves, an exciting one that promises gargantuan changes to come. Whereas many people are dismayed at the prospect of cloning human beings (and our government is currently against it), Baldi celebrates the prospect, writing that cloning, "At a minimum...provides a form of genetic immortality" that "may be reassuring" to some of us. (p. 61) He asks, what is "the chance of having twin Einsteins by natural means...?" He answers that it is a 100-billion to one shot, but "trivial to replicate with cloning techniques." Baldi even dares to mention the prospect of cloning for spare parts. (This might be called "partial cloning.")
Baldi believes that someday human intelligence "might be viewed as a historically interesting, albeit peripheral, special case of machine intelligence." (p. 113) He sees our neurons in direct interface with silicon intelligence, our memories and computational powers greatly enhanced.
He is trying "to imagine what can be done with intelligence and other faculties several orders of magnitude beyond our own." He writes: "Almost by definition, what can be done is in a blind spot that our brains cannot really see." (p. 114)
It occurred to me while reading this that by gradually replacing our brain cells...etc., we would never "die," at least not knowingly. We would change, perhaps drastically, over a period of time, but our subjective experience would note only small changes similar to the experience of watching grass grow. This would be a sort of death-defying immortality (with evolutionary change), the sort of thing that might work with human beings. Note how this fits in with Baldi's idea that we are not who we think we are. Indeed, we cannot really know who we are in a definitive sense. We can only know that we are part of a larger process.
I might note that in this sense science and religion are in the process of merging. Religion is the phenomenon of belief; science is the process of "knowing." At some point, off in the distance, there is a whole universe that invites belief without our having an ability to know. This is where science and religion merge.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Understanding Evolution and Ourselves”
"We do not know who we are, but we know enough to know we are not who we think we are."
This quote on page xiii (from Baldi himself, I imagine) sets the tone for this extraordinary book which is an excursion into the future of ourselves and the world we are making. The emphasis is on biology, genetics, computer science and information technology including brain science and how discoveries in these fields are changing our lives and our very concept of self.
What Baldi does so very well is to take current tendencies in these fields to their logical conclusion, and to look fearlessly at the results. This will be unpleasant reading for some, especially for those who see our species as fixed, a permanent endowment from a supernatural being. Baldi's general point is that we are forever changing. With the end of natural evolution upon us, so that we feel the full force of cultural evolution, the pace of change is rapidly accelerating. The result of this will be that, come some not too distant future, we will indeed be something strikingly different from what we are now.
In progressive religious circles it is said that we are "becoming." Usually it is not said what we are becoming, because that is not known. Baldi makes the same statement from the viewpoint of science. Through the rapidly accelerating power of culture evolution, we are in the process of "becoming" that which we cannot as yet clearly see.
"[O]ur notions of self, life and death, intelligence, and sexuality are very primitive and on the verge of being profoundly altered...It is this shattering...that forms the central thread of this book." (p. 3) The idea that "each of us is a unique individual delimited by precise boundaries" is wrong. With the advent of technologies stemming from science we will see that these boundaries are artificial as we are cloned and joined with silicon parts and machine intelligence, and as we become more and more attached to the Internet.
This is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World for real, but Baldi's is not a dystopian vision, rather his is a vision of great hope and excitement. He believes that "genomes, computations, and minds are...continuous entities, both in space and in time," and that we, individually, "are just samples of this continuum." (p. 4)
This is a startling view of the world and ourselves, an exciting one that promises gargantuan changes to come. Whereas many people are dismayed at the prospect of cloning human beings (and our government is currently against it), Baldi celebrates the prospect, writing that cloning, "At a minimum...provides a form of genetic immortality" that "may be reassuring" to some of us. (p. 61) He asks, what is "the chance of having twin Einsteins by natural means...?" He answers that it is a 100-billion to one shot, but "trivial to replicate with cloning techniques." Baldi even dares to mention the prospect of cloning for spare parts. (This might be called "partial cloning.")
Baldi believes that someday human intelligence "might be viewed as a historically interesting, albeit peripheral, special case of machine intelligence." (p. 113) He sees our neurons in direct interface with silicon intelligence, our memories and computational powers greatly enhanced.
He is trying "to imagine what can be done with intelligence and other faculties several orders of magnitude beyond our own." He writes: "Almost by definition, what can be done is in a blind spot that our brains cannot really see." (p. 114)
It occurred to me while reading this that by gradually replacing our brain cells...etc., we would never "die," at least not knowingly. We would change, perhaps drastically, over a period of time, but our subjective experience would note only small changes similar to the experience of watching grass grow. This would be a sort of death-defying immortality (with evolutionary change), the sort of thing that might work with human beings. Note how this fits in with Baldi's idea that we are not who we think we are. Indeed, we cannot really know who we are in a definitive sense. We can only know that we are part of a larger process.
I might note that in this sense science and religion are in the process of merging. Religion is the phenomenon of belief; science is the process of "knowing." At some point, off in the distance, there is a whole universe that invites belief without our having an ability to know. This is where science and religion merge.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Understanding Evolution and Ourselves”
October 14, 2023
Interesting introduction to the topic of cloning. As another reviewer and the author said, it’s not a in depth look at any of the topics discussed, but rather an overall look at many topics. The author specifically states that the book won’t cover ethics, but I did appreciate the short section about it. I’m still not sure about my ethical viewpoint on cloning, but I do know that this was a good intro to some of the topics and I’ll be reading more in the future.
January 6, 2015
Some great (and scary) speculations based on fiction science about cloning, stem cell research and genetic engineering. The author admitted that the ideas he discussed were on a pretty basic level (for example, another whole book would be needed to discuss the ethics of cloning alone) and not multi-dimensional for the ease of the reader.
September 8, 2007
Read about half of it, would recommend Ray Kurzweil's book over this.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews