Forged by natural selection and honed by evolution, humans are
perfectly adapted machines. . . for a world that no longer exists.
In Unfit for Purpose, biologist and broadcaster Professor Adam Hart
explores the mismatch between our fundamental biology and the modern
world we have created. In each chapter, Adam explores how many
biological adaptations that evolved to help us survive and thrive in a
very different world are now working against us. For example, humans are
superbly adapted famine survivors. Obesity might be a disease in the
modern world, but it's really just a troublesome side-effect of some
effective evolutionary brilliance. And in today's society, one of the
biggest killers is stress. What started out as a life-saving fight or
flight response in the face of bear attack might now cause headaches,
loss of sex drive, depression and heart problems as we panic about
missing deadlines or making sense of our work-life balance. And deep
evolutionary relationships with microbes built up through an outdoor
life have rapidly derailed leading to all kinds of gut and other
auto-immune problems.
Throughout the book, Adam meets the scientists unraveling early human
and primate evolution, the archaeologists exploring the very early
stages of human society, and the clinicians and sociologists studying
modern day diseases and conditions. In a world of our making, we find
ourselves unfit for purpose. But all is not lost--by unpicking the
evolutionary causes underpinning many of our current woes, Adam finds
and tests an array of evolutionarily-informed treatments, from the
straightforward to the downright weird.
