Evolution's Arrow by John Stewart

This paper was send by Michael Dowd as a pre-reading to all participants of the Evolutionary Salon 2; Jan. 14-18, 2006.

He called it “an excellent 6-page summary of his book "Evolution's Arrow" - which was the original inspiration for the convening of Evolutionary Salons.”

Some quotes from this 6-page summary:
“A major evolutionary transition is beginning to unfold on Earth.  Individuals are emerging who are choosing to dedicate their lives to consciously advancing the evolutionary process.  They see that their lives are an important part of the great evolutionary process that has produced the universe and the life within it.  They realize that they have a significant role to play in evolution.”  

“Redefining themselves within a wider evolutionary perspective is providing meaning and direction to their lives - they no longer see themselves as isolated, self-concerned individuals who live for a short time, then die irrelevantly in a meaningless universe.  They know that if evolution is to continue to fulfill its potential, it now must be driven consciously, and it is their responsibility and destiny to contribute to this.”

“At the heart of this evolutionary awakening is the understanding that evolution is directional.  Evolution is not an aimless and random process, it is headed somewhere.”

“Where is evolution headed?  Contrary to earlier understandings of evolution, an unmistakable trend is towards greater interdependence and cooperation amongst living processes.  If humans are to advance the evolutionary process on this planet, a major task will be to find more cooperative ways of organizing ourselves.”  

“As life increases in scale, a second major trend emerges - it gets better at evolving.”

You can upload the 6-page summary here,
and you can even read the whole book online.