Rebecca Costa

If you haven't already picked up of a copy of this book, stop reading right now. Get in your car and drive to Amazon's retail store closest to you (don't wait for the delivery truck, be proactive) and pick up a copy. Humanity will thank you.

Rebecca D. Costa, a sociobiologist and former student of the premier scientist and professor E. O. Wilson, has writen an insightful picture of modern society's entrapment that makes both intuitive and logical sense. Her five central themes – five supermemes – are predictable in devastating outcome. And as simple as they might seem to identify they are frighteningly difficult to surmount.

I have just finished reading the book, and it is a compelling read on our grim future. I highly recommend grabbing a copy for its conversational tone, intellectial input, and timeliness. This book is just that important.

We cannot agree on anything. We are grinding to a halt on seriously pressing problems. But our elected leaders are wholly unable to formulate cohesive strategies. Ultimately, a desperate situation leads to desperate measures. So we kick the can down the road and leave it to a future generation to solve, only now the reaper has caught up with us; societies cannot conserve a problem if there isn't any solution left to conserve. We are exhausting our planet's resources, our infrastructures, and ourselves. The bottom line: Complex social problems are all too routinely neglected in the short term until in the long term they precipitate catastrophe. Now is the time to throw everything we've got at neuroscience for the survival of the species lies in unlocking our collective talents and pooling our brainpower, not dividing ourselves along national or tribal boundaries. Ms. Costa leaves us with the question of whether or not, "Will we answer the clarion call of the Watchman's Rattle in the dead of night?" (pg. 268).

For our collective, human sake, let's hope we do.