Heirs of the Big Bang (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781958890615)

You've probably had some interest in tracking your family tree back several generations or more. With currently developed gene editing techniques, scientists are now able to trace human heritage, as well as all life, back to our ultimate common ancestor who lived several billion years ago! This book unveils the transformative journey leading from Earth's earliest living single cell to the remarkable multicellular creature you see looking back at you in the mirror each morning.

Human's ultimate development that transformed us from just another ho-hum animal into the planet's supreme species is also examined, along with the effect this development had on other humans as well as other contemporary life forms. Our range of emotions and the ensuing motivation for action are analyzed with regard to our psychological self-interests. We discuss how, despite these strongly engrained self-interests, humans still regularly manage to produce what most would agree is unqualified altruistic behavior. We also see how our basic five senses provide us with a range of interest and pleasures beyond just their self-survival purposes.

We also examine our insatiable adventuresome spirit, which led to the colonization of the entire world and now spurs us to dream of migrating to other planets, as well as to live in orbit in outer space. The mesmerizing idea of producing robots in our own image, with even superior mental faculties, is also reviewed. We discuss why some of these goals and ideas appear totally fanciful, but also recognize that reality has often sprouted from what was once considered whimsical imagination.