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THE termite mounds of Australia鈥檚 Northern Territory are marvels. Often 3 metres tall, they are flat on two sides like tombstones, and oriented in the same direction. But unlike grave markers, they sustain life, moderating the harsh climate by absorbing sunlight on chilly mornings and evenings, while minimising solar exposure at midday.

These mounds are a classic example of something common to many species: niche construction, or optimising living conditions by altering the environment. Yet humans stand apart at this. Through our unique capacity to persistently transform our environment, we have extended our niche globally.

In Ingenious, Peter Gluckman and Mark Hanson attribute this to cultural evolution, the process by which shared ideas advance over time. For them: 鈥淥ur ability to develop technologies, learn and communicate about them, and then redevelop them鈥� is, effectively, human nature.鈥�

The book explores human ingenuity, and while the authors sometimes labour the obvious (yes, we know we are a technological species), they make a strong case for cultural evolution. More interestingly, they consider what happens when the change it produces accelerates beyond our ability to assimilate it, and when beneficial technologies are used for negative ends.

鈥淭he evolutionary mismatch of climate change means fossil fuel-powered vehicles are wrecking Earth鈥�

Runaway cultural evolution may even pose serious or existential threats. Gluckman and Hanson鈥檚 most obvious example is obesity, caused by a ruinous mismatch between biology and the niche we have created. We are genetically predisposed to store calories and use them efficiently because food was scarce and hard to gather during our evolutionary history. Yet pre-packaged, high-energy foods are now widespread just as we have become increasingly sedentary.

Other evolutionary mismatches include the impact of social media on our political structures, which are undermined by surveillance and hacking. Even more profound is the mismatch climate change brings, as fossil fuel-powered vehicles and cities wreck Earth. 鈥淭echnology seduces us,鈥� write Gluckman and Hanson. Unlike animals, we innovate way past survival needs 鈥� on a whim, for convenience or pleasure. And while cultural evolution helps us achieve almost anything, it is blind to consequences.

This problem is urgent, but not new. Consider Alfred Nobel鈥檚 invention of dynamite back in the 1860s. He created it as a safer, more reliable alternative to the standard nitroglycerine used in mining and heavy construction. He laid the groundwork for epic industrial growth, but, as Audrey Kurth Cronin documents in Power to the People, the invention also powered modern terrorism.

Dynamite was the perfect weapon: it was easy to conceal and detonate, and demand from industry ensured it was readily available. In 1881, a small group of anti-monarchists assassinated Alexander II of Russia using dynamite, turning it into a global symbol of violent uprising.

Superbly researched and richly detailed, Power to the People is a fascinating history of the technology appropriated for violence. Cronin describes how AK-47 rifles became all-purpose weapons after the second world war, and why aeroplane hijackings became so popular from the 1970s.

For Cronin, future attacks will be fuelled by accelerating cultural evolution relating to such things as AI. Dynamite, she says, offers clues to the kinds of innovations that will be adopted. It was invented in an era of open innovation, when amateurs were encouraged to experiment. Some used it to fish; others added clocks to make primitive time bombs. Its accessibility and ease of use tell Cronin that attackers may target the likes of consumer-grade drones or infrastructural changes such as the internet of things.

So can humans learn to predict the mortal dangers posed by cultural evolution, and avert catastrophic mismatches between biology and society? Clearly to avoid extinction, our next evolutionary move must be to become wiser about ingenuity.