Edge.org: Optimism
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With the new year comes new resolutions, and new questions, including the new Edge.org question. The science super-hero club house that brought you dangerous ideas in 2006 wants to bring you optimism in 2007.
As an activity, as a state of mind, science is fundamentally optimistic. Science figures out how things work and thus can make them work better. Much of the news is either good news or news that can be made good, thanks to ever deepening knowledge and ever more efficient and powerful tools and techniques. Science, on its frontiers, poses more and ever better questions, ever better put.
What are you optimistic about? Why? Surprise Us!
Edge.org, 1/1/07
Edge has gathered 160 responses to their annual query, and in our second annual dive into Edgeland we’ll hear some of the most provocative.
With so much going wrong in the world (you know, the usual stuff: war, famine, disease, global warming) this year’s question seems willfully contrarian. Do you agree with any of the Edge authors that Google Earth can stop wars or that Malthus was wrong? What are you optimistic about this January? Give us your own concise responses to this year’s question.
Juan Enriquez
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CEO, Biotechonomy
Founding Director, Harvard Business School’s Life Sciences Project
Author, The Untied States of America
Steven Pinker
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Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
Author of The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and The Blank Slate, among many others
Clay Shirky
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Social & Technology Network Topology Researcher
Adjunct Professor, NYU Graduate School of Interactive Telecommunications Program
Chris DiBona
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Open Source Programs Manager, Google Inc.
Editor, Open Sources: Voices From the Open Source Software Revolution
Paul Steinhardt
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Albert Einstein Professor of Science, Princeton University
James O’Donnell
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Classicist and Cultural Historian
Provost, Georgetown University
Author, Augustine: A New Biography
- Extra-Credit Reading
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Juan Enriquez, A Knowledge Driven Economy Allows Individuals to Lead Millions Out of Poverty In a Single Generation, The Edge Annual Question 2007, Edge
Steven Pinker, The Decline of Violence, The Edge Annual Question 2007, Edge
Clay Shirky, Evidence, The Edge Annual Question 2007, Edge
Chris DiBona, Widely Available, Constantly Renewing, High Resolution Images of the Earth Will End Conflict and Ecological Devastation As We Know It, The Edge Annual Question 2007, Edge
Paul Steinhardt, Bullish on Cosmology, The Edge Annual Question 2007, Edge
James O’Donnell, Scientific Discoveries Are Surprisingly Durable, The Edge Annual Question 2007, Edge