"WHAT
ARE
YOU OPTIMISTIC ABOUT?" |
What Is Your Dangerous Idea
Edited
by John Brockman
Introduction by Steven Pinker
Afterword by Richard Dawkins
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KYUNG
HANG (Soeul)
The great world-wide
scholars talk about their 'dangerous ideas'.
|
Most
of the contributors appear to have interpreted "dangerous" as
meaning something like "subversive," challenging
to one or another received orthodoxy. |
Meine
gefährlichste Idee. Seit nunmehr neun Jahren startet
die Stiftung Edge mit einer Umfrage zu einem großen
generellen Thema ins neue Jahr. |
Crónicas
Bárbaras Ciencia racista, atractiva pero muy
peligrosa. |
(Sydney)
Into the minds of the believers. With the aim of
gathering ideas from the world's leading thinkers
on intellectual, philosophical, artistic and literary
issues, US writer John Brockman established The Edge
Foundation in 1988. |
Royal
Society president Martin Rees said the most dangerous
idea was public concern that science and technology
were running out of control. |
Audacious
Knowledge. What is a dangerous idea? One not assumed
to be false, but possibly true?What do you believe
is true even though you cannot prove it?" |
Seductive
power of a hazardous idea. The responses to Brockman's
question do not directly engage with each other, but
they do worry away at a core set of themes. |
Academics
see gene cloning perils, untamed global warming and
personality-changing drugs as presenting the gravest
dangers for the future of civiliztion |
Risky
ideas; What do scientists currently regard as the most
dangerous thoughts? |
Be
Afraid. Edge.org canvassed scientists for their "most
dangerous idea." David Buss, a psychologist at the
University of Texas, chose "The Evolution of Evil." |
The
most dangerous idea. Brockman's challenge is noteworthy
because his buddies include many of the world's greatest
scientists: Freeman Dyson, David Gelertner, J. Craig
Venter, Jared Diamond, Brian Greene. |
Dangerous
Ideas About Modern Life. Free will does not exist.
We are not always created equal. Science will never
be able to address our deepest concerns. |
Genome
sequencing pioneer Craig Venter suggests greater understanding
of how genes influence characteristics such as personality,
intelligence and athletic capability could lead to
conflict in society. |
The
wilder shores of creativity. He asked his roster of
thinkers [...] to nominate an idea, not necessarily
their own, they consider dangerous not because it is
false, but because it might be true. |
Fom cloning to predetermination of sex: the answers of
invesitgators and philosophers to a question on the
online salon Edge. |
Who
controls humans? God? The genes? Or nevertheless the
computer? The on-line forum Edge asked its yearly question — and
the answers raised more questions. |
La
pregunta de l’any. La web Edge.org penjarà l’1
de gener la pregunta de l’any. La del 2005 va
ser resposta per 120 ments de l’anomenada ‘tercera
cultura’, que van reflexionar sobre l’enunciat “Què creus
que és veritat tot i no poder-ho demostrar?” |
THE HANKYOREH (Seoul)
 |
The 117
respondents include Richard Dawkins, Freeman Dyson,
Daniel Dennett, Jared Diamond -- and that's just the
D's! As you might expect, the submissions are brilliant
and very controversial. |
Gene
discoveries highlight dangers facing society. Mankind's
increasing understanding of the way genes influence
behaviour and the issue's potential to cause ethical
and moral dilemmas is one of the biggest dangers facing
society, according to leading scientists. |
Why
it can be a very smart move to start life with a Jewish
momma: There is one dangerous idea that still trumps
them all: the notion that, as Steven Pinker describes
it, "groups of people may differ genetically in
their average talents and temperaments". For "groups
of people", read "races." |
The
Earth can cope with global warming, schools should
be banned and we should learn to love bacteria. These
are among the dangerous ideas revealed by a poll of
leading thinkers. |
Science
can be a risky game, as Galileo learned to his cost.
Now John Brockman asks over a hundred thinkers, “What
is your most dangerous idea?” |
"Our
brains are constantly subjected to the demands of multi-tasking
and a seemingly endless cacophony of information from
diverse sources. " |
Very
complex systems — whether organisms, brains,
the biosphere, or the universe itself — were
not constructed by design; all have evolved. There
is a new set of metaphors to describe ourselves, our
minds, the universe, and all of the things we know
in it. |
John
Brockman Blogs Edge's Annual Question on Huff
Po |
What We Believe but
Cannot Prove: Today's
Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty
Edited by John Brockman
Introduction by Ian McEwan |
|
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| The
natural gift of consciousness should be treasured all the more
for its transience. |
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The
answers...exert an un- questionable morbid fascination — those
are the very ideas that scientists cannot confess in their
technical papers. |
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"Fate
largo alle «beautiful minds» di Roberto
Casati;;
"La
terza cultura di John Brockman" di Armando Massarenti |
|
God
(or Not), Physics and, of Course, Love: Scientists Take a
Leap: Fourteen scientists ponder everything from string theory
to true love. |
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| Space
Without Time, Time Without Rest: John Brockman's Question
for the Republic of Wisdom—It
can be more thrilling to start the New Year with a good question
than with a good intention. That's what John Brockman is
doing for the eight time in a row. |
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| What
do you believe to be true, even though you can't prove
it? John Brockman asked over a hundred scientists
and intellectuals... more» ... Edge |
|
That's
what online magazine The Edge - the World Question Center
asked over 120 scientists, futurists, and other interesting
minds. Their answers are sometimes short and to the point |
|
| Science's
Scourge of Believers Declares His Faith in Darwin... |
|
| Singolare
inchiesta in usa di un sito internet. Ha chiesto ai signori
della ricerca di svelare i loro "atti di fede".
Sono arrivate le risposte piu' imprevedibili i fantasmi dello
scienziato: non ho prove ma ci credo. |
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| To
celebrate the new year, online magazine Edge asked
some leading thinkers a simple question: What do you
believe but cannot prove? Here is a selection of their
responses... |
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| Scientists
dream too - imagine that |
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"Fantastically
stimulating ...Once
you start, you can't stop thinking about that question. It's
like the crack cocaine of the thinking world." — BBC
Radio 4 |
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| Scientists,
increasingly, have become our public intellectuals, to whom
we look for explanations and solutions. These may be partial
and imperfect, but they are more satisfactory than the alternatives. |
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Bangladesh—The
cynic and the optimist, the agnostic and the believer,
the rationalist and the obscurantist, the scientist and
the speculative philosopher, the realist and the idealist-all
converge on a critical point in their thought process where
reasoning loses its power. |
|
Il
Sole 24 Ore-Domenica Segnalate le vostre cuioosita,
chiederemo riposta alle persone piu autorevoli |
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| "So
now, into the breach comes John Brockman, the literary agent
and gadfly, whose online scientific salon, Edge.org, has become
one of the most interesting stopping places on the Web. He begins
every year by posing a question to his distinguished roster of
authors and invited guests. Last year he asked what sort of counsel
each would offer George W. Bush as the nation's top science adviser.
This time the question is "What's your law?" |
|
| "John
Brockman, a New York literary agent, writer and impresario of
the online salon Edge, figures it is time for more scientists
to get in on the whole naming thing...As a New Year's exercise,
he asked scores of leading thinkers in the natural and social
sciences for "some bit of wisdom, some rule of nature, some
law-like pattern, either grand or small, that you've noticed
in the universe that might as well be named after you." |
|
| "John
Brockman has posted an intriguing question on his Edge website.
Brockman advises his would-be legislators to stick to the scientific
disciplines." |
|
| "Everything
answers to the rule of law. Nature. Science. Society. All of
it obeys a set of codes...It's the thinker's challenge to put
words to these unwritten rules. Do so, and he or she may go down
in history. Like a Newton or, more recently, a Gordon Moore,
who in 1965 coined the most cited theory of the technological
age, an observation on how computers grow exponentially cheaper
and more powerful... Recently, John Brockman went looking for
more laws." |
|
|
| "In
2002, he [Brockman] asked respondents to imagine that they had
been nominated as White House science adviser and that President
Bush had sought their answer to 'What are the pressing scientific
issues for the nation and the world, and what is your advice
on how I can begin to deal with them?'Here are excerpts of some
of the responses. " |
|
| "Edge's
combination of political engagement and
blue-sky thinking makes stimulating reading
for anyone seeking a glimpse into the next
decade." |
|
"Dear
W: Scientists Offer
President Advice on Policy" |
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"There
are 84 responses,
ranging in topic
from advanced nanotechnology
to the psychology
of foreign cultures,
and lots of ideas
regarding science,
technology, politics,
and education." |
|
| "Brockman's
thinkers of the 'Third Culture,' whether
they, like Dawkins, study evolutionary
biology at Oxford or, like Alan Alda, portray
scientists on Broadway, know no taboos.
Everything is permitted, and nothing is
excluded from this intellectual game." |
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"The
responses are generally written in an
engaging, casual style (perhaps encouraged
by the medium of e-mail), and are often
fascinating and thought - provoking....
These are all wonderful, intelligent
questions..." |
 |
| "We
are interested in ‘thinking smart,'" declares Brockman
on the site, "we are not interested in the anesthesiology
of ‘wisdom.'" |
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"INSPIRED
ARENA: Edge has been bringing together the world's foremost
scientific thinkers since 1998, and the response to September
11 was measured and uplifting." |
|
| "Responses
to this year's question are deliciously creative... the variety
astonishes. Edge continues to launch intellectual skyrockets
of stunning brilliance. Nobody in the world is doing what Edge is
doing." |
|
"Once
a year, John Brockman of New York, a writer and literary
agent who represents many scientists, poses a question in
his online journal, The Edge, and invites the thousand or
so people on his mailing list to answer it." |
 |
"Don't
assume for a second that Ted Koppel, Charlie Rose and the
editorial high command at the New York Times have
a handle on all the pressing issues of the day.... a lengthy
list of profound, esoteric and outright entertaining responses. |
The Geatest Inventions
of the Past 2,000 Years
Edited
by John Brockman
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| "A terrific, thought provoking site." |
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| "The
Power of Big Ideas" |
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| "The
Nominees for Best Invention Of the Last Two Millennia Are .
. ." |
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"...Thoughtful and often
surprising answers ....a fascinating survey of intellectual
and creative wonders of the world ..... Reading them reminds
me of how wondrous our world is." — Bill Gates, New York Times Syndicated
Column |
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