In the meantime, there’s a rich discussion of aspects of this question on Edge.org, a forum for all manner of minds, curated by the agent and intellectual impressario John Brockman [6]. Once or twice a year since 1998, Edge has tossed provocative questions [7] to variegated batches of scientists, writers, artists and innovators.

Some examples: How is the Internet changing the way you think? [8] What have you changed your mind about? Why? [9] What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?

This year’s question, proposed by Steven Pinker [10] and shaped with input from Daniel Kahneman, [11] has been addressed by more than 150 people so far:

What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit? [12] (The phrase "scientific concept" has a very broad meaning, explained at the link.)

You can read my Edge contribution, centering on a concept I call anthropophilia, below, with links to relevant context added (the Edge format is straight text).

I’m in the early stages of reading the other contributions. There’s much to chew on and enjoy. Here are a few highlights: ... [4]