I wish people understood natural selection properly. If they did, then they would abandon the infantile idea of benign Mother Nature, and recognise that there is no Great Designer whose aim is to make our lives pleasant. Rather, we need to use our own ingenuity - particularly our science - to improve our lives.

Rita Carter is author of books including Consciousness (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)), and Mapping the Mind (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)).