"...a new generation of artists, writing genomes as fluently as Blake and Byron wrote verses, might create an abundance of new flowers and fruit and trees and birds to enrich the ecology of our planet. Most of these artists would be amateurs, but they would be in close touch with science, like the poets of the earlier Age of Wonder. The new Age of Wonder might bring together wealthy entrepreneurs like Venter and Kamen ... and a worldwide community of gardeners and farmers and breeders, working together to make the planet beautiful as well as fertile, hospitable to hummingbirds as well as to humans."

Indeed, Dyson was front and center in August 2007, at "Life: What a Concept", an Edge Special Event where he joined scientists Craig Venter, George Church, Robert Shapiro, Dimitar Sasselov, and Seth Lloyd. According to Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the event "was one of those memorable events that people in years to come will see as a crucial moment in history. After all, it's where the dawning of the age of biology was officially announced."

As a follow up, the Edge Master Class 2009 featured a weekend course taught by the two leading genomic researchers in the world: George Church and Craig Venter. "A Short Course in Synthetic Genomics" for a small group of scientists, entrepreneurs, cultural impresarios and journalists that included architects of the some of the leading transformative companies of our time (Microsoft, Google, Facebook, PayPal). The proceedings of both events are available on Edge Video.

Edge is a Conversation

Edge is different from The Algonquin, The Apostles, The Bloomsbury Group, or The Club, but it offers the same quality of intellectual adventure. Closer resemblances are to The Invisible College and the Lunar Society of Birmingham.  The early seventeenth-century Invisible College was a precursor to the Royal Society. Its members consisted of scientists such as Robert Boyle, John Wallis, and Robert Hooke. The Society's common theme was to acquire knowledge through experimental investigation. The Lunar Society of Birmingham, an informal club of the leading cultural figures of the new industrial age — James Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgewood, Joseph Priestly, and Benjamin Franklin. In a similar fashion, Edge gathers together those who are exploring the themes of the post-industrial age.

Through its Master Classes, the Edge Dinners, the World Question Center, the Edge Videos, and it's Special Events, Edge gathers together the third culture intellectuals and technology pioneers and entrepreneurs and presents their conversation as a public service through its online salon edge,org.

One of the venues where this ongoing conversation takes place is at Edge Dinners, the most recent of which took place last week, during the week of TED 2010 in Long Beach, California. Dinner guests included a number of individuals who are playing a significant role in this new age of wonder through their scientific research, enlightened philanthropy, and entrepreneurial initiative: Lawrence Brilliant, M.D., Sergey Brin, George Church, Bill Gates, W. Daniel Hillis, Dean Kamen, Kary Mullis, Nathan Myhrvold, Larry Page, Jeff Skoll, Craig Venter, and Nathan Wolfe.

Below is a the guest list and a link to the photo album.

— John Brockman

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