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Home > The Edge Question 2018 - 14

The Edge Question 2018 - 14 [1]

 

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Jason WilkesJason [16]
Graduate student in Psychology, UC Santa Barbara; Author, Burn Math Class

 

 

 

 

Why are the errors that our best machine-learning algorithms make so different from the errors we humans make?

 

 

 

 

Evan WilliamsEvan [17]
CEO, Medium

 

 

 

 

What will be obvious to us in a generation that we have an inkling of today?

 

 

 

 

Alexander Wissner-GrossAlexander [18]
Scientist; Inventor; Entrepreneur; Investor

 

 

 

 

Can general-purpose computers be constructed out of pure gravity?

 

 

 

 

Milford H. WolpoffMilford H. [19]
Professor of Anthropology, University of Michigan; Adjunct Associate Research Scientist, Museum of Anthropology

 

 

 

 

Can the pace of human evolution stop accelerating?

 

 

 

 

Richard WranghamRichard [20]
Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology, Curator of Primate Behavioral Biology at Harvard University; Author, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human

 

 

 

 

In which century or millennium can all humanity be expected to speak the same primary language?

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth Wrigley-FieldElizabeth [21]
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Faculty Member, Minnesota Population Center

 

 

 

 

How do our microbes contribute to that particular combination of continuity and change that makes us human?

 

 

 

 

Richard Saul WurmanRichard Saul [22]
Founder, TED Conference; EG Conference; TEDMED Conferences; Architect, Cartographer; Author, Information Architects

 

 

 

 

Clarify the differences between understanding, knowledge and wisdom that could be communicated to a literate twelve-year-old and recommunicated to their parents.

 

 

 

 

Victoria WyattVictoria [23]
Associate Professor of History in Art, University of Victoria

 

 

 

 

How do contemporary developments in technology affect human cultural diversity?

 

 

 

 

Itai YanaiItai [24]
Director, Institute for Computational Medicine; Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine; Co-author (with Martin Lercher), The Society of Genes

 

 

 

 

 

How can we rebel against our genes if we are biological creatures without free will?

 

 

 

 

Dustin YellinDustin [25]
Artist; Founder, Pioneer Works

 

 

 

 

Will the frontiers of consciousness be technological or linguistic?

 

 

 

 

Eliezer S. YudkowskyEliezer S. [26]
Research Fellow; Co-founder, Machine Intelligence Research Institute

 

 

 

 

What is the fastest way to reliably align a powerful AGI around the safe performance of some limited task that is potent enough to save the world from unaligned AGI?

 

 

 

 

Dan ZahaviDan [27]
Professor of Philosophy; Director, Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen; Author, Self and Other: Exploring Subjectivity, Empathy, and Shame

 

 

 

 

What is the world without the mind?

 

 

 

 

Anton ZeilingerAnton [28]
Physicist, University of Vienna; Scientific Director, Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information; President, Austrian Academy of Sciences; Author, Dance of the Photons: From Einstein to Quantum Teleportation

 

 

 

 

Will the individual quantum event forever remain random?

 

 

 

 

Carl ZimmerCarl [29]
Journalist: Author, A Planet of Viruses; Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed

 

 

 

 

How does the past give rise to the future?

 

 

 

 

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Links
[1] https://www.edge.org/the-edge-question-2018-14
[2] https://www.edge.org/the-last-question
[3] https://www.edge.org/the-last-question-13
[4] https://www.edge.org/the-last-question-1
[5] https://www.edge.org/the-last-question-3
[6] https://www.edge.org/the-last-question-4
[7] https://www.edge.org/the-last-question-5
[8] https://www.edge.org/the-last-question-6
[9] http://www.edge.org/the-last-question-7
[10] https://www.edge.org/the-last-question-8
[11] https://www.edge.org/the-last-question-9
[12] http://www.edge.org/the-last-question-10
[13] http://www.edge.org/the-last-question-11
[14] http://www.edge.org/the-last-question-12
[15] http://www.edge.org/the-last-question-13
[16] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/jason_wilkes
[17] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/evan_williams
[18] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/alexander_wissner_gross
[19] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/milford_h_wolpoff
[20] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/richard_wrangham
[21] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/elizabeth_wrigley_field
[22] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/richard_saul_wurman
[23] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/victoria_wyatt
[24] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/itai_yanai
[25] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/dustin_yellin
[26] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/eliezer_s_yudkowsky
[27] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/dan_zahavi
[28] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/anton_zeilinger
[29] https://www.edge.org/memberbio/carl_zimmer
[30] http://www.edge.org/the-last-question-2