Sir Peter Gluckman is University Distinguished Professor and Director of the Centre for Science in Policy, Diplomacy and Society at the University of Auckland, and Chief Scientific Officer for the Singapore Institute of Clinical Sciences. He is president of the International Network for Government Science. He was the chief science advisor to the prime minister of New Zealand from 2009 to 2018. Mark Hanson is British Heart Foundation Professor and Director of the Institute of Developmental Sciences at the University of Southampton. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and a recipient of the Distinguished Merit Award from the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
This fascinating book offers a panoramic perspective of how social interactions, and our understanding of them, has emerged. The distinguished authors have the expertise to share ideas across a range of subjects, including evolutionary biology, history, and sociology. Their insights deserve wide readership. -- Martin Rees, author of <i>On the Future</i> Ingenious is a magisterial, wonderfully entertaining, superbly written overview of the history of our species, its attempts to escape nature, and the price of our success. -- Randolph Nesse, author of <i>Good Reasons for Bad Feelings</i> Gluckman and Hanson make the compelling argument that creativity and ingenuity are uniquely human traits, ones that shape our course of evolution with potential inadvertent consequences. This is a new and important dimension to our understanding of evolution and its aftermaths. -- Alan I. Leshner, American Association for the Advancement of Science A fascinating tour of humanity and its capacity for innovation. Part explanation, part users’ guide, Ingenious combines knowledge from evolutionary theory, genomics, environmental studies, and science and technology policy to produce compelling insights regarding our past, present, and technology-driven future. -- Eric M. Meslin, Council of Canadian Academies Together, the authors have published many highly technical articles that challenge received wisdom about how evolution works. In Ingenious they apply these views to argue not only that technological change is best understood as an evolutionary process but also that traditional understandings of evolution fail to capture the role and rate of technological change in society. -- G. Pascal Zachary * Stanford Social Innovation Review * Usefully critiques the unchecked faith—common in developed nations—in our abilities to create technologies that will save us from any potential harm. -- Steve Elliott * Quarterly Review of Biology *