In this elegant and ambitious book, organic chemist and accomplished polymath Joel de Rosnay, shows how the sciences of complexity--the study of self-organization and the evolution of complex systems--coupled with the power of modern computing, have ripened into tool powerful enough to help us understand the systems of which we are a part. He demonstrates how nature progresses when structures and functions combine into higher-order assemblies: cells into organisms, organisms into populations, populations into ecosystems. This progression is giving rise to what de Rosnay calls the cybion, a planetary macro-organism consisting of all people and machines, organisms, networks, and nations.

De Chardin popularized the term "noosphere" (mind sphere), denoting the network of thoughts, information and communication that englobes the planet.

In this visionary book, Gregory Stock gives us a new way of understanding our world and our future. He develops the provocative thesis that human society has become an immense living being - a global superorganism in which we humans, knitted together by our modern technology and communication, are like the cells in an animal's body. Drawing on impressive research, Stock shows this newly formed superorganism to be more than metaphor; it is an actual living creature, which he has named "Metaman," meaning "beyond and transcending humans." This name acknowledges humanity's key role in the superorganism but also stresses that Metaman is more than humanity alone. Our increasing reliance on new technologies has joined us inextricably to our technology, while at the same time it has bound humanity together. The examples are all around us: our medical equipment and drugs, high-yield crop strains, superhighways, power and telecommunications networks. All these are part of Metaman. The implications of the new global culture and economy, the evolution of machine intelligence, and the advent of genetic engineering are vast.

A science fiction writer's prophetic vision of a world encyclopedia of knowledge that would provide a kind of global repository, like the world-wide web now does.

Ted Turner said about this book: "A fascinating vision of how the information revolution is shifting consciousness. A much needed, optimistic perspective on humanity's future."