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In the following quote you point out one of the issues that we have been struggling with as a class throughout the semester:
"Adaptation, and evolution, takes courage and acceptance, and in a way it also involves our own agency. Things are going to happen regardless of our effort, but without our mental willingness we will be just physically moving through life, not willing to mentally process how we are changing...but how we perceive the changes we encounter is what really makes the difference - it's how we change."

Whether it is The Plague, Darwin, Dennett or Powers, or Adaptation, we always come back to the question of whether or not we can affect our own change, whether or not evolution is "positive" change, and if we have the agency to be directly involved. Do we want to just be plants? Avoid the shame in constantly changing, trying to better fit our new environments, the newest trends or a new relationship? And how can we even say that these changes and adaptations will be a positive change? I like this idea that how we change is through "how we perceive the changes we encounter," but I'm still not sure whether or not we can control this. (Yet another question we have been grappling with!)