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I've already got a name for such roads: slaveways (as opposed to freeways).

Okay, okay, so I stole it from Greg Bear.

An idea similar to this was proposed in 1980s science fiction. In particular, Eternity by Greg Bear had a computer virus that could escape any sandboxed environment.

Greg Egan - best ideas ever. I'm currently re-re-reading Diaspora
Charles Stross - fun. I read Accelerando (free book!), then bought all his other stuff and wasn't disappointed.
Richard Morgan - really likes his Lone Genetically Modified Male protagonists, but luckily he does them well enough for it not to get old.
Alastair Reynolds - the Revelation Space universe is one of my favourites.
Iain (M.) Banks - The Culture novels are quite interesting, and his other books aren't bad either.

Honourable mentions:

Peter Watts - all his books appear to be online. Blindsight is very, very good, but I've not read much else from him yet.
Greg Bear - some of his older works are among my favourites. Queen of Angels, Slant (literally "/") and Moving Mars are one of my favourite trilogies. I'm behind on his newer stuff though, and his latest "terrorist thriller" makes me suspicious.

IMHO, the Science Fiction novel to read about Neandertahl DNA, modern Human DNA, and the evolutionary process that shall lead beyond us is: Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear. Winner of the Nebula Award, Winner of the Endeavor Award, Nominated for a Hugo Award. Michael De Luca has partnered with the SCI FI Channel to develop DARWIN'S RADIO and DARWIN'S CHILDREN into an 8-hour original television series.

Professor Jonathan Vos Post (I've taught a Human Evolution course several times)

Just like in Blood Music. Now I wonder what cells has to say...

can Hollywood not just take a chance and film an Iain Banks, Greg Bear, etc. novel and just give us some good science fiction?

Forge of God

Anvil of Stars

can Hollywood not just take a chance and film an Iain Banks, Greg Bear, etc. novel and just give us some good science fiction?

Forge of God

Anvil of Stars

Niven, Card, and also Greg Bear. The Forge of God is in the works, with the superior Anvil of Stars also optioned.

Or perhaps DNA accumulated from other sources. Like endogenous retroviruses.

That is retrovirues that have transcribed their RNA into DNA and merged it with out genome. About 8% of the genomic DNA is from ERVs i.e. they exceed by far the number of protein-coding gene sequences.

So the question is what are they doing there?

Do they help mediating jumping genes?.

When did they arrive?

Are they involved in schizophrenia or any other diseases?

Find out more here or here.

Greg Bear has put this to good use in some of his recent books: "Darwin's Radio", "Vitals" and "Darwin's Children".

The crazy weaponry in Anvil of the Stars, by Greg Bear. Been a while since I read it, but as I recall, the crew of this ship discovered how to "edit" matter, and used this offensively against the aliens who destroyed Earth.

There's a trilogy in the works based off Forge of God, Anvil of Stars, and a third book he'll have to write. Check out his web site for more information.

I know someone else mentioned Greg Bear, but if you haven't read The Forge of God (apocalypse theme) I would definately recommend it (supposidly they're making a movie out of it soon...).

A pretty cool cyberpunk book called Altered Carbon came out last summer, and I enjoyed reading it over the Christmas break, although it was a tad obnoxious at times (well... it is cyberpunk I guess).

The publisher lists 100 science fiction books you have to read. Very good list. There's a few more by Greg Bear that I would love to add to that list, but then it wouldn't be as diverse as it is.

Have you read Greg Bear's book, Darwins Radio? The whole book is about evolution and a lot of it contemplates these types of circumstances.

The story deals with what happens to the human race when those genes come out for the first time since we took over from the Neandertals. (Probably not the best summary, but God it's early.)

Not a bad book -- I wasn't too compelled by the first half, but now that I'm on the downhill stretch I'm more and more engrossed. A neat idea, and one that looks like it may have some basis in fact. (Scary thought, given the human race's reaction in the book to what happens...)

The whole concept of emergent behaviour.

Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio makes for a good introduction on that subject...

All it takes is for someone, somewhere to build an intelligent(ish) self-replicating machine programmed to spread throughout the galaxy - one per interesting star system.

Such a system could cover the entire galaxy in a couple of million years easily (and cheaply after initial design/construction cost). They can do whatever you like; sit and watch, make contact, try to destroy any competitors (The Forge of God style; soon to become a set of movies, yay), and call home (since you end up with a network of them; sure, it'll take a while to get back home, but it's one hell of a cheap way to learn an awful lot about the galaxy).

Given that it only takes one civilization to have done this, and given that our solar system is probably quite interesting given it's layout, I wouldn't put too high odds on there NOT being such a device hanging around near here.

All it takes is for someone, somewhere to build an intelligent(ish) self-replicating machine programmed to spread throughout the galaxy - one per interesting star system.

Such a system could cover the entire galaxy in a couple of million years easily (and cheaply after initial design/construction cost). They can do whatever you like; sit and watch, make contact, try to destroy any competitors (The Forge of God style; soon to become a set of movies, yay), and call home (since you end up with a network of them; sure, it'll take a while to get back home, but it's one hell of a cheap way to learn an awful lot about the galaxy).

Given that it only takes one civilization to have done this, and given that our solar system is probably quite interesting given it's layout, I wouldn't put too high odds on there NOT being such a device hanging around near here.

As for six fingers sprouting up, I think that only happens in inbred royalty and certain religious sects, doesn't it? ;)