Speciesism in Biology and Culture

Brian Swartz is a scientist at the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere and the University and Jepson Herbaria (mahb.stanford.edu, ucjeps.berkeley.edu). His research focuses on speciesism and the global consequences of human self-interests. This includes fostering positive social and environmental outcomes that support a prosperous future for life on Earth. To this end he also works with entrepreneurs and investors in artificial intelligence, machine learning, extended reality, quantum computing, blockchain technology, DeFi, web3, and game design who hold a similar vision for the future. Brian was trained at Cambridge, Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, Penn, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Brent D. Mishler is Director of the University and Jepson Herbaria and Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he teaches about island biology, biodiversity, evolution, and phylogenetic analysis. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1984. His research interests are in the ecology and evolutionary biology of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), as well as the theory of phylogenetic systematics. He has been heavily involved in developing electronic resources to present taxonomic and distributional information about plants to the public, with applications to conservation concerns. He has most recently been involved in developing new "spatial phylogenetic" tools for studying biodiversity and endemism using large-scale phylogenies and collection data in a geographic and statistical framework.

Part I. Biology and Culture.- Chapter 1. Speciesism in Biology and Culture: How Human Exceptionalism is Pushing Planetary Boundaries.- Chapter 2. Race and Human Genomic Variation.- Chapter 3. Science Without Species: Doing Science With Tree-Thinking.- Part II. Culture and History.- Chapter 4. The Colonization of Islands as Microcosms for Human Impacts on an Interplanetary Scale.- Chapter 5. Species, God, and Dominion.- Chapter 6. Symbols and How We Came to be Human.- Part III. Conservation and Law.- Chapter 7. Law and Nature: Human, Nonhuman, and Ecosystem Rights.- Chapter 8. A Phylogenetic Approach to Conservation: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning for a Changing Globe.- Part IV. Sustainability and the Future.- Chapter 9. Energy and Society: Toward a Sustainable Future.