Saturday, April 7: University of Montana Professor of Philosophy Christopher Preston joins us for a reading from his new book, The Synthetic Age. 1pm.

The Synthetic Age: Outdesigning Evolution, Resurrecting Species, and Reengineering Our World provides an overview of some of the most significant of the transformations on offer. It shows how our species is on the way to constructing a synthetic version of nature, all the way from the atom to the atmosphere. While exploring some of the benefits that will be gained by these developments, the book also posts a sober warning about how dangerous it would be to assume all these changes will be good.

Should engineers, entrepreneurs, and the marketplace be allowed to replace the products of natural history with an entirely synthetic age? This book explains what is going on beneath our gaze. It explores the promises….but also reveals the perils.

Born and raised in England, Christopher moved to the United States in the nineteen-nineties. Apart from a 5 year soujourn in South Carolina and a few months in Washington D.C., he has lived mostly in the western states where he enjoys mountain biking, skiing, and other activities made possible by the roomy landscapes.  His interest in the Anthropocene and rewilding reflects both his European and his American sensibilities. Even in an epoch in which human influence is clearly everywhere, he finds significance in both the new, and the traditional, wild.