Publication History |
Dougal Dixon’s “Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future” follows in the
footsteps of “After Man: A Zoology of the Future” in its conjectures on how life
might evolve over the next millions of years. Rather than speculate on a
variety of life forms, however, “Man After Man” focuses exclusively on human
evolution – just as its title suggests.
After a tutorial on human evolution, “Man After Man” starts its fictional
narrative 200 years from now. Humanity has nearly destroyed the earth and
its habitats through rapid over-population. Starvation is rampant. The division
between the “haves” and “have nots” has created a near-Wellsian situation in
which the “haves” have become almost entirely dependent upon technology
and the “have nots” have been reduced to a Hobbesian existence that is nasty,
brutal, and short.
In order to save itself, humanity has turned to radical genetic engineering and
space exploration. Pioneers are ejected into space to form colonies, while back
on earth the split between the “haves” and “have nots” steadily results in two
forms. The first becomes more and more tied to technological solutions to
keep itself alive. Effectively, this first group undermines the process of
evolution so that its members become weaker and more sickly over time, in
turn increasing their dependence, in turn increasing their weaknesses. The
second group, left without most of the benefits of technology and medicine,
continues to be weeded out by natural selection. This group becomes more and
more hardy. Slowly, the earth begins to repair itself.
When the magnetic fields of the earth change, technology and those living with
it are destroyed. But the cyborg “hiteks” have made provisions – having
forseen the future of humanity in the repairing hinterlands, they have
engineered a groups of primitive humans to occupy niches such as the plains
and released them into the wild to face changing climates and ecosystems, the
greenhouse effect, and other adversities.
“Man After Man” is told through the accounts of individuals as they struggle to
survive the next 5 million years, which leads to a more disjointed and less
illuminating read than it might otherwise be. The species are less scientific than
in Dixon’s other works (specifically unscientific are retained memories).
The overall result is rather disturbing. Dixon’s future is pessimistic and far
more than a simple environmental warning. It is a future in which humans have
so utterly destroyed themselves and their planet that their only hope for
“survival” is de-evolution and virtual abandonment of all it means to be human.
Considered liabilities to survival, intelligence, creativity, and the like are
deliberately engineered out of humanity, and Dixon implies that it is precisely
these traits that lead to our downfall.
I rate “Man After Man” a 7 out of 10.
footsteps of “After Man: A Zoology of the Future” in its conjectures on how life
might evolve over the next millions of years. Rather than speculate on a
variety of life forms, however, “Man After Man” focuses exclusively on human
evolution – just as its title suggests.
After a tutorial on human evolution, “Man After Man” starts its fictional
narrative 200 years from now. Humanity has nearly destroyed the earth and
its habitats through rapid over-population. Starvation is rampant. The division
between the “haves” and “have nots” has created a near-Wellsian situation in
which the “haves” have become almost entirely dependent upon technology
and the “have nots” have been reduced to a Hobbesian existence that is nasty,
brutal, and short.
In order to save itself, humanity has turned to radical genetic engineering and
space exploration. Pioneers are ejected into space to form colonies, while back
on earth the split between the “haves” and “have nots” steadily results in two
forms. The first becomes more and more tied to technological solutions to
keep itself alive. Effectively, this first group undermines the process of
evolution so that its members become weaker and more sickly over time, in
turn increasing their dependence, in turn increasing their weaknesses. The
second group, left without most of the benefits of technology and medicine,
continues to be weeded out by natural selection. This group becomes more and
more hardy. Slowly, the earth begins to repair itself.
When the magnetic fields of the earth change, technology and those living with
it are destroyed. But the cyborg “hiteks” have made provisions – having
forseen the future of humanity in the repairing hinterlands, they have
engineered a groups of primitive humans to occupy niches such as the plains
and released them into the wild to face changing climates and ecosystems, the
greenhouse effect, and other adversities.
“Man After Man” is told through the accounts of individuals as they struggle to
survive the next 5 million years, which leads to a more disjointed and less
illuminating read than it might otherwise be. The species are less scientific than
in Dixon’s other works (specifically unscientific are retained memories).
The overall result is rather disturbing. Dixon’s future is pessimistic and far
more than a simple environmental warning. It is a future in which humans have
so utterly destroyed themselves and their planet that their only hope for
“survival” is de-evolution and virtual abandonment of all it means to be human.
Considered liabilities to survival, intelligence, creativity, and the like are
deliberately engineered out of humanity, and Dixon implies that it is precisely
these traits that lead to our downfall.
I rate “Man After Man” a 7 out of 10.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future (Dougal Dixon) By SC Bryce |
First Printing:
FantasyBookSpot.com (Dec. 29, 2006).
FantasyBookSpot.com (Dec. 29, 2006).
Second Printing:
SCBryce.com (Dec. 29, 2006).
SCBryce.com (Dec. 29, 2006).
|