Biocivilisations: A New Look at the Science of Life

'A brilliant book [that] shows a way out of the destructive trap of Anthropocentric arrogance.' Vandana Shiva, from the Foreword 'Read this book if you would like to understand the intelligence of living systems.' Dr Denis Noble, University of Oxford ‘A welcoming yet fiercely challenging and provocative read shining a light on the way we look at the science of life.’ LoveReading What is life? This is arguably the fundamental question in all of science, and yet many scientists believe that life can be reduced to mechanistic factors, such as genes and information codes. But in a world as rich and complex as this one, can such an assertion really be true?  Biocivilisations is a thrillingly original look at the mystery of life and a recognition of the complex civilisations of bacteria, viruses, fungi, plants and animals that have preceded the human world by billions of years.  Dr Predrag Slijepcevic, senior lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences at Brunel University, reconsiders the limited scope and timeframe of our current ‘scientific revolution’ and shares how – from the tiniest bacteria to the largest mammals – the living world has long fostered ancient biocivilisations: how ants practice agriculture, how insects perform surgery, how trees conduct research, how slime moulds build networks as complex as our modern transportations systems and more. More than 99.99 percent of life on Earth has existed without humanity and life will continue without humans long into the future. Biocivilisations challenges us to reconsider the limited scope and time-window of our current ‘scientific revolution’ and to fundamentally reimagine what we call ‘life on Earth’ by posing a powerful question: Are we really the intelligent masters over nature we think we are?