What Should We Be Worried About?: Real Scenarios That Keep Scientists Up at Night Author: John Brockman | Language: English | ISBN:
006229623X | Format: EPUB
What Should We Be Worried About?: Real Scenarios That Keep Scientists Up at Night Description
Drawing from the horizons of science, today's leading thinkers reveal the hidden threats nobody is talking about—and expose the false fears everyone else is distracted by.
What should we be worried about? That is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org ("The world's smartest website"—The Guardian), posed to the planet's most influential minds. He asked them to disclose something that, for scientific reasons, worries them—particularly scenarios that aren't on the popular radar yet. Encompassing neuroscience, economics, philosophy, physics, psychology, biology, and more—here are 150 ideas that will revolutionize your understanding of the world.
Steven Pinker uncovers the real risk factors for war * Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi peers into the coming virtual abyss * Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek laments our squandered opportunities to prevent global catastrophe * Seth Lloyd calculates the threat of a financial black hole * Alison Gopnik on the loss of childhood * Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains why firefighters understand risk far better than economic "experts" * Matt Ridley on the alarming re-emergence of superstition * Daniel C. Dennett and george dyson ponder the impact of a major breakdown of the Internet * Jennifer Jacquet fears human-induced damage to the planet due to "the Anthropocebo Effect" * Douglas Rushkoff fears humanity is losing its soul * Nicholas Carr on the "patience deficit" * Tim O'Reilly foresees a coming new Dark Age * Scott Atran on the homogenization of human experience * Sherry Turkle explores what's lost when kids are constantly connected * Kevin Kelly outlines the looming "underpopulation bomb" * Helen Fisher on the fate of men * Lawrence Krauss dreads what we don't know about the universe * Susan Blackmore on the loss of manual skills * Kate Jeffery on the death of death * plus J. Craig Venter, Daniel Goleman, Virginia Heffernan, Sam Harris, Brian Eno, Martin Rees, and more
- Paperback: 528 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial (February 11, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 006229623X
- ISBN-13: 978-0062296238
- Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
The latest iteration of the Edge Question comes is something of a loaded question. You can't answer "What should we worry about?" until you've first answered the question, "Should we be worried at all?" In this book, the framework lends to speculation on what worry is in the first place, and how it can be used toward our intended aims. As cognitive Scientist Dan Sperber rightly points out, worry isn't the problem, it's how we use it.
One recalls the point made in Morse's Psychonomics: How Modern Science Aims to Conquer the Mind and How the Mind Prevails: People fear plane crashes more than car crashes even though the former are less frequent and less deadly. But it's not irrational as it seems because fear (worry) can be useful in directing energy and effecting change, and that can lead to greater safety.
This collection is something of a crepehanger's dream come true. People who are easily discouraged by big problems will not have a fun time with this book. But, though there is plenty of doom and gloom to take away from this collection of essays, there is plenty of fascinating thought to go with it, and so is well worth the read. And where else can one read arguments from the brightest minds in the world on the same subject? After reading this (and other Edge titles), the reader feels as though he has just mingled with Steven Pinker, Daniel Dennett, Gary Klein, and 150 other brilliant people at a cocktail party.
A word on the publisher: The Edge, the internet salon from which this book springs, is a real jewel in the neo-modernist age.
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