Extinction

by Douglas Preston

The agricultural revolution turned you from free wanderers into slaves to the land. The Industrial Revolution robbed you of your souls and made you cruel. And the IT revolution gave you loneliness, hatred, and misery. What’s next for Sapiens in the glorious march of progress?”

“That’s the problem with science,” said Cash. “If something can be done, it will be done—no matter how dangerous.

There is some genetic evidence that autism may be linked to atavistic Neanderthal gene variants cropping up in modern humans. One of the symptoms of autism is having difficulties in social interactions, suggesting that Neanderthals might have been similarly disadvantaged.