Childbirth and the Future of Homo Sapiens PDF Download

Author: Michel Odent
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781780660950
Category : Childbirth
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Former obstetrician and childbirth pioneer Michel Odent argues that the aspect of human lifestyle that has been most profoundly changed in recent decades is the period of time surrounding the birth of a child. Since this formative time is considered critical in defining our species, Homo sapiens, fundamental changes in this area should herald significant evolution in regard to how babies are born. This, surely, should be at the heart of our discussions of the future, even above considerations of how humanity and planet earth interact.

Author: Michel Odent
Publisher: Pinter & Martin Publishers
ISBN: 9781780662107
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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The period surrounding birth is a phase of modern life that has been dramatically altered in recent decades, and emerging scientific disciplines have shown that this short period is critical in the formation of human beings. Michel Odent, former obstetrician and revolutionary childbirth pioneer, believes that these are two good reasons to raise questions about the way babies are born, and the consequences this may have for the evolution of Homo sapiens. Furthermore, the transmission of acquired traits to subsequent generations can now be scientifically interpreted (epigenetics, the transmission of the mircobiome, etc), which may represent a defining moment in our understanding of the mechanisms by which evolution occurs. Recent scientific advances have been so spectacular that they merit this updated edition of a book that was originally published in 2013. Obstetric practice is generally evaluated in the short term; this ground-breaking book encourages us to think about modes of birth in the long term, and to consider the impact they have on our species and its evolution. It is a readable, yet thought-provoking book, which will give anyone interested in evolution and the future of Homo sapiens much new material to consider.

Author: Michel Odent
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
ISBN: 9789811207549
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
Since the advent of 'ecological awareness' in the 1970s, Michel Odent has continuously claimed that it is commonplace to anticipate the effects of human activities on the ecosystems without considering the probable transformations of Homo induced by multiple aspects of modern lifestyle. In 1979, in 'Genèse de l'homme écologique', he raised questions such as: 'How does respect for Mother Earth develop?' It is significant that, forty years later, a Paris publisher suddenly took the initiative to present a 2019 edition.Today the chosen 'springboard' for 'The Future of Homo' is, once more, the perinatal period, the critical phase of human development that has been radically transformed over some decades. Present-day questions are raised about 'birth preparation', a little-known phase of physiological changes in late pregnancy: the importance of the topic is perceptible at a time when widespread medical practices, namely labour induction and prelabour caesarean sections, are powerful interferences.The book offers an antithesis to countless published documents about 'natural childbirth'. It is challenging the dominant ways of thinking through radically new ways of interpreting the physiological processes.More than ever, Michel Odent is pushing the explorers of the future to consider the probable transformations of Homo as a central and necessary issue.The matter is enlarged with considerations about long-term thinking, the 'future of futurology' and 'the evolution of evolutionary thinking'.The endpoint of the book is related to the limits of the domination of nature: how can childbirth be desocialised?

Author: Michel Odent
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781780662237
Category : Childbirth
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
What is the future of the human capacity to give birth? What is the future of underused physiological functions? Should we expect an evolution of Homo sapiens in relation to the way babies are born? Can fast-developing scientific disciplines induce a new awareness? In this wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the future of birth, renowned obstetrician Michel Odent takes the question 'Do we need midwives? ' as a starting point. If a paradigm shift occurs, what kind of midwives shall we need? For how long can we go on neutralizing the laws of natural selection? Are human beings able to raise vital questions before it is too late? Unprecedented situations should first and foremost inspire appropriate questions.

Author: Michel Odent
Publisher: Pinter & Martin Limited
ISBN: 9781780668000
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Since the advent of agriculture and animal husbandry, the human population has multiplied by about one thousand in a 'demographic explosion'. However, in recent years, global fertility rates have begun to decrease significantly, and this is one reason to make a case for humans being becoming an endangered species. Many of the possible interpretations of this dramatic U-turn in the history of mankind may be found in modern ways of being born. For example, where caesarean rates are high, the average number of babies born per woman is very low. During the ultimate phase of the history of socialised birth, the hormonal dance that was previously essential is altered or eliminated. Today childbirth needs to be highly medicalised, after thousands of years of misunderstanding of the physiological processes involved. In a renewed scientific context, it may still be possible to rediscover the basic needs of labouring women and to try to ensure the future of our species. Is it too late to reach such a utopia? Michel Odent re-evaluates the comparative importance of recently acquired insights, to suggest links between data and ways of thinking from a great diversity of highly specialised disciplines.

Author: Michel Odent
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9811206821
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
'This book should be read by anyone involved in birth work, and in future oriented scientific disciplines, anyone working on sustainable development goals, resilience, and planetary boundaries. It is an essential read for explorers of the future and people necessitating transdisciplinary science to explore solutions for our planetary crises ... His writing is clear and organized, the chapters can be very short, his argumentation is persuasive and can seem disconnected at times until the connection is found; we enter the brain of a great systems thinker ...; Michel Odent's scientifically evidenced linkages between seemingly disconnected events grows our understanding of interconnectedness; a key quality for the survival of humanity.'Midwifery TodayAt a global scale, love hormones are now redundant in the critical period surrounding birth ... reasons for questions?Between 1970 and 1990, in many parts of the world, the rates of caesareans escalated from roughly 5% to roughly 25%. During this short phase of history, the father's participation became routine. Is there a link between these facts?Health care systems are on the way to collapsing. Should we go on focusing on the preventive and curative treatments of particular diseases or should we give a greater importance to the way our basic adaptive systems, involved in what we commonly call health, reach a high degree of maturity?These examples are sufficient to illustrate the 'neo-Socratic attitude' of the author. Our contemporaries are constantly dealing with unprecedented situations. Question marks, therefore, can symbolise the current phase of our history. Throughout this book, radically new situations are analysed, before appropriate questions are phrased.At a time when people commonly debate on the long-term effects of human activities without considering the probable transformations of Homo, one cannot avoid a preliminary question: How to reach an audience made up of female and male open-minded people who are turned towards the future but have not yet realised that the important period surrounding birth has been radically transformed during the past decades?In the age of cultural blindness related to overspecialization, The Future of Homo is also a training tool to think across boundaries.Related Link(s)

Author: Laura Johnson Dahlke
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666772097
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Outer Origin examines the individual, social, and spiritual implications of ectogenesis, also known as artificial womb technology. Formerly considered the topic of science fiction, such devices are currently being developed and will soon be a medical reality. This book offers readers information on the status of this technology and considers the ways in which it may one day fully replace human gestation. Ectogenesis has previously been assessed with the future child in mind, but this book, instead, envisions what it might mean for women. It explores the value of pregnancy and childbirth in the twenty-first century and questions the notion that artificial wombs will lead to full equality of the sexes. Outer Origin seeks to elevate the maternal experience by reflecting on the meaning of reproductive technology in our lives. People everywhere must ponder the significance of what has heretofore been their most common link—shared natality and birth. If not, Homo sapiens will enter a deep dive into the unknown—that of not being of woman born.

Author: Marcy Axness
Publisher: Sentient Publications
ISBN: 1591811767
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
This book emphasizes a mother's role in the development of the child's brain and emotional infrastructures.

Author: Elizabeth Newnham
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319699628
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
This book examines the future of birthing practices, particularly by focusing on epidural analgesia in childbirth. It describes historical and cultural trajectories that have shaped the way in which birth is understood in Western, developed nations. In setting out the nature of epidural history, knowledge and practice, the book delves into related birth practices within the hospital setting. By critically examining these practices, which are embedded in a scientific discourse that rationalises and relies upon technology use, the authors argue that epidural analgesia has been positioned as a safe technology in contemporary maternity culture, despite it carrying particular risks. In examining alternative research the book proposes that increasing epidural rates are not only due to greater pain relief requirements or access but are influenced by technocratic values and a fragmented maternity system. The authors outline the way in which this epidural discourse influences how information is presented to women and how this affects their choices around the use of pain relief in labour.

Author: Michel Odent
Publisher: Pantheon Books
ISBN:
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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