| Preface | 13 |
| THE NATURE OF METAMAN | 17 |
| 1. Planetary Superorganism | |
| GLIMPSES OF A PROMISING FUTURE | 19 |
| Organisms and Superorganisms | 23 |
| Crossing the Threshold | 26 |
| Society Transformed | 29 |
| Our Passage to a New Era | 32 |
| 2. The Birth of Metaman | |
| EXTENDING LIFE S PATTERNS | 37 |
| Of Living Things and Human Intuition | 43 |
| The Fundamentals of Life | 45 |
| An Evolving Metaman | 52 |
| 3. A Fusion of Technology and Biology | |
| THE NONHUMAN CONSTITUENTS OF METAMAN | 53 |
| Toward Machine Intelligence | 55 |
| In Biology's Footsteps | 60 |
| The Living Parts | 65 |
| 4. Inner Workings Explored | |
| PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SUPERORGANISM | 68 |
| Essential Systems of the Metabody | 69 |
| Commerce and the Regulation of Metabolism | 73 |
| An Inexorable March | 78 |
| 5. The Mind of Metaman | |
| AN EVOLVING GLOBAL BRAIN | 80 |
| Sensing and Interpreting | 81 |
| From Human Brain to Global Mind | 84 |
| Responding | 89 |
| METAMAN TODAY | 93 |
| 6. The Foundation for Our Future | |
| ACCELERATING TOWARD GLOBAL UNION | 95 |
| Tribal States and Global Government | 95 |
| Toward Global Culture | 99 |
| The Dynamic of Metaman | 106 |
| Change Is the Only Constant | 110 |
| 7. Rites of Passage | |
| PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBAL CONCERNS | 112 |
| The Fading Threat of Nuclear War | 114 |
| Population Growth--The Challenge of Our Era | 116 |
| Global Warming--Larger Perspectives | 121 |
| Dawn of the Solar Age | 128 |
| Living with Security | 132 |
| 8. Man and Metaman | |
| THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE SUPERORGANISM | 135 |
| A Place for Individual Action | 137 |
| At the Periphery | 142 |
| THE FUTURE | 147 |
| 9. Beyond Homo sapiens | |
| INTIMATIONS OF HUMANITY'S FUTURE | 149 |
| Human-Machine Hybrids | 152 |
| Biological Design Comes of Age | 159 |
| Rewriting the Code | 163 |
| 10. Environmental Transformations | |
| THE CHANGING NATURE OF NATURE | 172 |
| Our Planet's Unceasing Change | 174 |
| The Natural Environment in thevAge of Metaman | 182 |
| l 1. The Trajectory of Social Change | |
| A STORY OF RISING EXPECTATIONS | |
| The Impacts of Technology | 199 |
| An End to Self-reliance | 207 |
| 12. Power and Choice | |
| CHALLENGES TO HUMAN VALUES | 211 |
| The Dilemmas of Power | 213 |
| Aging and Death | 218 |
| A NEW VISION | 223 |
| 13. Darwin Extended | |
| THE EVOLUTION OF EVOLUTION | 225 |
| The Changing Face of Evolution | 226 |
| The Tree of Life | 231 |
| 14. A New Mythology | |
| METAMAN AND OUR QUEST FOR MEANING | 237 |
| Glossary | 247 |
| Notes | 251 |
| Index | 350 |