Questions That Could Change the World

John Brockman is best described as an impresario of ideas. Technically, he is a literary agent, and a highly successful one. But his fame—and unique contribution to the world of ideas—comes from a very specific niche he has carved out for himself. He represents some of the brightest minds in the world, in science, technology, arts and humanities. As for those he does not represent—well, he has their phone numbers anyway on speed dial. And his friend and client circle includes at least a couple of dozen Nobel laureates.

 

He runs the Edge Foundation, whose public face is edge.org, a site which The Guardian once called “the world’s smartest website”. And The Guardian could well be right....

 

Edge.org has an annual ritual. Brockman poses a question, and gets some seriously bright people to answer it. Chosen answers are published in the form of a book.

 

These questions have ranged from “What do you believe even though you cannot prove it?” (2005), and “What will change everything?” (2009), to “ What is your favourite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?” (2012) and “What ‘should’ we be worried about?” (2013). All the questions asked so far are available here....

 

I own several of these annual-question books...