>>I suppose a flu pandemic is an inevitability.
Microcosmos tells the story of life on Earth from its origins down to
the present, with a focus on what Stephen Jay Gould calls "the modal
bacter", on the central role played by bacteria and other microbes. At
times the stress on these is hyberbolic, as indeed the preface to this
1997 edition pretty much admits. That preface suggests that this was
intended to counter ecological arrogance and to balance human-centric
ways of looking at the world.
As well as looking at things from a microbial perspective, Margulis
and Sagan place a stress on the role of symbiosis and cooperation in
evolution that would have pleased the anarchist Kropotkin. Margulis
was largely responsible for reviving the now generally accepted
endosymbiotic theory for the origin of mitochondria and chloroplasts,
and that is one of the topics covered. It is also suggested that the
"cell whips" or undulipodia which play such an important role in cell
and chromosomal movement originated as free-living spirochetes.
In some places, however, Microcosmos borders on outright mysticism,
with a confusion of levels of understanding: "The reality and
recurrence of symbiosis in evolution suggests that we are still in an
invasive, 'parasitic' stage and that we must slow down, share, and
reunite ourselves with other beings if we are to achieve evolutionary
longevity." And though Margulis and Sagan are excellent guides to the
bacterial world, they are not so good when it comes to human
evolution. Here they make a few quite egregious errors, such as "all
primates today except ourselves are vegetarians or insectivores", and
in general their account appears to have been cribbed from popular
works on the subject...
Microcosmos:
Four Billion Years of Microbial Evolution
Lynn Margulis + Dorion Sagan
University of California Press 1997
http://dannyreviews.com/h/Microcosmos.html
http://www.amazon.com/Microcosmos-Billion-Years-Microbial-Evolution/dp/052021064...
...the book is not merely an account of the past; it attempts to
explain why Eurasian civilizations, as a whole, have survived and
conquered others, while attempting to refute the belief that Eurasian
hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or
inherent genetic superiority.... [one cause] ...European diseases
weakened the local populations and thus made it easier to maintain
control over them...
Guns, Germs, and Steel:
The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel
http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393061310/
