WHAT SCIENTIFIC IDEA IS READY FOR RETIREMENT? [1]

[ Sun. Jan. 19. 2014 ]

Domingo, 19 2014
PAGE 5
DEBATES

From culture to altruism, to the left and right hemispheres of the brain, to universal grammar, to the very notion of scientific progress: for some of the brightest minds in the world, these concepts deserve to retired from the scientific conversation.

This is the result provocateur who this year had the question which, like all the years, proposed Edge - a web site associated with a Publisher that promotes thought and discussion of cutting-edge science, arts and literature - partners usual and invited, to those invited to think "what scientific idea is ready to retire?". About 170 scientists, philosophers, academics and writers responded with brief essays, that they can be read online (www.edge.org [4]) and that, like other years, they will probably soon its publication on paper. Here, a selection of some of the responses.

This is this year's provocative result of the question, which is proposed every year, by Edge, a website associated with a literary agent that promotes thinking and discussion of cutting-edge science, arts and literature, who invited his usual collaborators and guests , to think about "What scientific idea is ready to retire?". Some 170 scientists, philosophers, scholars, and writers responded with short essays that can be read online (www.edge.org [4]) and, as has happened in previous years, will surely soon be published as a book. Here, a selection of some of the answers.

 
Simple Answers
Gavin Schmidt
Climatologist, NASAs Goddard Institute

Information Overload
Jay Rosen
Associate Professor of Journalism, New York University

Markets Are Bad; Markets Are Good
Michael I. Norton
Associate Professor of Marketing, Harvard Business School

The Illusion of Scientific Progress
Paul Saffo
Technology Forecaster

Certainty. Absolute Truth. Exactitude.
Richard Saul Wurman
Founder, TED Conference; eg Conference; TEDMED Conferences

Anti-anecdotalism
Nicholas G. Carr
Author, The Shallows and The Big Switch

Retire nothing!
Ian McEwan
Novelist; Author, Sweet Tooth; Solar; On Chesil Beach
 

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