The frontispiece to this volume is a mathematical representation of the relationship between human physiology and longevity. It is emblematic of the enormous advances in the health and wealth of people over the past 300 years. It is also emblematic of the vast increase in humankind's control over the environment and of the scientific, industrial, biomedical, and cultural revolutions that are the foundations for that control.

These advances are aptly described by the term “technophysio evolution,” which was coined to describe the unique nature of human progress since 1700. During these three centuries there has been a fifty-fold increase in the average incomes of the peoples of the United States and Japan and comparable increases in the leading countries of Western Europe. The peoples of these countries have greatly improved their health and more than doubled their longevity.

Technophysio evolution and its implications are the central themes of this volume. The term describes the complex interaction between advances in the technology of production and improvements in human physiology. The interaction is synergistic, which means that the total effect is greater than the sum of its parts. This interaction between technological and physiological improvements has produced a form of evolution that is not only unique to humankind but unique among the 7,000 or so generations of human beings who have inhabited the earth. Although the process has been experienced only by the last ten generations of humankind, it is still ongoing.