What Should We Be Worried About?: Real Scenarios That Keep Scientists Up at Night (Edge Question Series)

ISBN: 006229623X

Author: Brockman, John

Condition: New

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