All living organisms have properties that are a convolution of their genetic programming and environmental exposure. Until recently humankind has had only a feeble ability to modify the genetic programming of organisms, but in recent years this has changed dramatically. We now can pretty much do anything we want. However, our current ability to predict the outcome of genetic manipulations is still extremely limited. In parallel, humans have also gained the ability to manipulate the environment. While we are far away from total control, globally, we can do pretty well, locally.

The result of these advances in technology is that future evolution of all life on our planet will be pretty much controlled by humans. We will see the emergence of newly designed species with enhanced properties to communicate, regenerate, produce energy efficiently, generate fuels, synthesize medicines, and manufacture healthier (for humans) food. We will also witness the directed evolution of humans with enhanced properties. Clearly this will not occur without some controversy.

It is probably a natural outcome of evolution that a species attains the ability to control and accelerate its own evolution. However, this great power to improve also comes with an equal power to do harm, and no single technology has greater power to threaten our stability as a society than biotechnology, if used malevolently.