Homo Electric: How Coronavirus, Social Media and Climate Change Are Accelerating Evolution of a Dynamic New Human Species

"A really thought-provoking work"
-- David S. Moore, Ph.D., author of
The Developing Genome: An Introduction to Behavioral Epigenetics"

"A lively and evocative narrative."
-- Charles Giuliano, berkshirefinearts.com

WHO ARE WE? For 200,000 years, since the emergence of the species Homo sapiens, humans could only interact with each other face-to-face. Then the development of the telegraph and the telephone in the 19th century enabled remote interactions. It was the beginning of The Electric Age. Now we're intricately interconnected through computers and smartphones, electronic extensions of our minds and bodies. The coronavirus pandemic has necessitated remote working, learning, healthcare, socializing and entertainment. Social media are bringing us together, and driving us apart. And the threat of climate change is leading to growing awareness of our role as stewards of the Earth. Since Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution and natural selection, "the survival of the fittest," genes were thought to be the sole determinants of heredity. But new thinking points to the influence of other factors as well, including culture, the environment and epigenetics. Drawing on these 21st century ideas, Steve Nelson presents a straightforward, compelling and yet daring concept: that human beings are evolving into a dynamic new species: Homo electric. Not in the future, but right now. Their world is changing rapidly, and becoming A Planet Electric. STEVE NELSON has led a life electric in video production, solar energy, rock concert production, computer software and fiber broadband. He's a graduate of Cornell University (math major), Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School.