Search results for ""Author John Brockman""

The bestselling editor of This Explains Everything brings together 175 of the world's most brilliant minds to tackle Edge.org's 2014 question: What scientific idea has become a relic blocking human progress? Each year, John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org-"The world's smartest website" (The Guardian)-challenges some of the world's greatest scientists, artists, and philosophers to answer a provocative question crucial to our time. In 2014 he asked 175 brilliant minds to ponder: What scientific idea needs to be put aside in order to make room for new ideas to advance? The answers are as surprising as they are illuminating. In : * Steven Pinker dismantles the working theory of human behavior * Richard Dawkins renounces essentialism * Sherry Turkle reevaluates our expectations of artificial intelligence * Geoffrey West challenges the concept of a "Theory of Everything" * Andrei Linde suggests that our universe and its laws may not be as unique as we think * Martin Rees explains why scientific understanding is a limitless goal * Nina Jablonski argues to rid ourselves of the concept of race * Alan Guth rethinks the origins of the universe * Hans Ulrich Obrist warns against glorifying unlimited economic growth * and much more. Profound, engaging, thoughtful, and groundbreaking, This Idea Must Die will change your perceptions and understanding of our world today ...and tomorrow.

Read more less

"Theway Brockman interlaces essays about research on the frontiers of science withones on artistic vision, education, psychology and economics is sure to buzzany brain." -Chicago Sun-Times on This WillChange Everything Markingthe debut of a hard-hitting new series from Edge.org and Harper Perennial,editor John Brockman delivers a cutting-edge master class covering everythingyou need to know about The Mind. With original contributions by theworld's leading thinkers and scientists, including Steven Pinker, George Lakoff, Philip Zimbardo, V. S. Ramachandran, and others, The Mind offers aconsciousness-expanding primer on a fundamental topic. Unparalleled in scope,depth, insight and quality, Edge.org's The Mind isnot to be missed.

Read more less

Weighing in from the cutting-edge frontiers of science, today's most forward-thinking minds explore the rise of "machines that think." Stephen Hawking recently made headlines by noting, "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." Others, conversely, have trumpeted a new age of "superintelligence" in which smart devices will exponentially extend human capacities. No longer just a matter of science-fiction fantasy (2001, Blade Runner, The Terminator, Her, etc.), it is time to seriously consider the reality of intelligent technology, many forms of which are already being integrated into our daily lives. In that spirit, John Brockman, publisher of Edge. org ("the world's smartest website" - The Guardian), asked the world's most influential scientists, philosophers, and artists one of today's most consequential questions: What do you think about machines that think?

Read more less

From the bestselling editor of This Explains Everything, 206 of the world's most brilliant minds tackle Edge.org's 2017 question: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? As science informs public policy, decision making, and so many aspects of our everyday lives, a scientifically literate society is crucial. In that spirit, Edge.org publisher John Brockman asked 206 the world’s best minds the 2017 Edge Question: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? Contributors include: author of The God Delusion RICHARD DAWKINS on using animals’ “Genetic Book of the Dead” to reconstruct ecological history; theoretical physicist and author of A Universe from Nothing Lawrence Krauss on "uncertainty" and resisting our temptation to assign meaning to random events; MacArthur Fellow REBECCA NEWBERGER GOLDSTEIN on “scientific realism,” the idea that scientific theories explain phenomena beyond what we can see and touch; behavioral economist RICHARD THALER on the “premortem,” which can help root out potential hazards before making a major business decision; Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel JARED DIAMOND on a basic precept too often missing from scientific discourse: “common sense;” author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics CARLO ROVELLI on “relative information,” which governs the physical world around us; author of The Shallows NICHOLAS CARR on “mysterianism,” the idea that humans’ mastery and understanding of the world around us is illusory; theoretical cosmologist JANNA LEVIN on the “principle of least action,” which allows us to express many of the most complex ideas in a single sentence; cognitive scientist and author of The Language Instinct STEVEN PINKER on “The Second Law of Thermodynamics;” author of Emotional Intelligence DANIEL GOLEMAN on “empathic concern,” a scientific basis for compassion; theoretical physicist and Time 100 influencer LISA RANDALL on “effective theories,” which reflect what we observe in the world around us; founding executive editor of Wired KEVIN KELLY on “premature optimization,” or why success so often begets failure; biogerontologist AUBREY DE GREY on why “maladaptive traits” have been conserved evolutionarily; musician and producer BRIAN ENO on “confirmation bias” in the internet age; Man Booker-winning author of Atonement IAN MCEWAN on the “Navier-Stokes Equations,” which govern everything from weather prediction to aircraft design, to blood flow; plus pieces from FRANK WILCZEK, RORY SUTHERLAND, NINA JABLONSKI, MARTIN REES, ALISON GOPNIK, and many, many others.

Read more less

Unlock your mind From the bestselling authors of Thinking, Fast and Slow; The Black Swan; and Stumbling on Happiness comes a cutting-edge exploration of the mysteries of rational thought, decision-making, intuition, morality, willpower, problem-solving, prediction, forecasting, unconscious behavior, and beyond. Edited by John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org ("The world's smartest website"-The Guardian), Thinking presents original ideas by today's leading psychologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers who are radically expanding our understanding of human thought. Daniel Kahneman on the power (and pitfalls) of human intuition and "unconscious" thinking * Daniel Gilbert on desire, prediction, and why getting what we want doesn't always make us happy * Nassim Nicholas Taleb on the limitations of statistics in guiding decision-making * Vilayanur Ramachandran on the scientific underpinnings of human nature * Simon Baron-Cohen on the startling effects of testosterone on the brain * Daniel C. Dennett on decoding the architecture of the "normal" human mind * Sarah-Jayne Blakemore on mental disorders and the crucial developmental phase of adolescence * Jonathan Haidt, Sam Harris, and Roy Baumeister on the science of morality, ethics, and the emerging synthesis of evolutionary and biological thinking * Gerd Gigerenzer on rationality and what informs our choices

Read more less

""What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?"" This was the question posed by John Brockman to a group of leading scientists and thinkers via his Edge.org website. The subsequent answers created a media storm and prompted a fiery debate about all aspects of science, technology and even the nature of ""proof"". WHAT WE BELIEVE BUT CANNOT PROVE brings together the very best answers from the most eminent contributors. Here is Ian McEwan on the absence of an afterlife; Richard Dawkins on the relationship between design and evolution; and Jared Diamond on when humans first reached the Americas. Other contributions from luminaries like Steven Pinker, John Horgan and Martin Rees span the whole range of scientific endeavour and human experience, from the future of computing to the origins of intelligence; from insights into childhood behaviour to cutting-edge cosmology. Thought-provoking and hugely compelling, this collection is both a fascinating insight into the instinctive beliefs of some of the most brilliant minds alive today -- and an invitation to answer the question yourself . . .

Read more less

In This Explains Everything, John Brockman, founder and publisher of Edge.org, asked experts in numerous fields and disciplines to come up with their favorite explanations for everyday occurrences. Why do we recognize patterns? Is there such a thing as positive stress? Are we genetically programmed to be in conflict with each other? Those are just some of the 150 questions that the world's best scientific minds answer with elegant simplicity. With contributions from Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, Nassim Taleb, Brian Eno, Steven Pinker, and more, everything is explained in fun, uncomplicated terms that make the most complex concepts easy to comprehend.

Read more less

The Internet, in the memorable words of EDGE founder John Brockman, is 'the infinite oscillation of our collective consciousness interacting with itself. It's not about computers. It's not about what it means to be human - in fact, it challenges, renders trite, our cherished assumptions on that score. It is about thinking'.In How is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?, the latest volume in Brockman's cutting-edge Edge questions series, 154 of the world's leading intellectuals - scientists, artists and creative thinkers - explore exactly what it means to think in the new age of the Internet: from Nicholas Carr's reflections on what the Internet is doing to our brains, to Richard Dawkins's sanguine assessment of its long-term potential for good; and from Clay Shirky's assessment of the impact of the Internet on the dissemination and sharing of knowledge, to Ian and Joel Gold's observations on the seismic social changes it has brought about.Editor John Brockman has assembled a world-class array of contributors, which includes (in addition to those mentioned above) Daniel C. Dennett, Martin Rees, Steven Pinker, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Sean Carroll, Brian Eno, Douglas Coupland, Matt Ridley, and scores of others at the epicentre of research in their respective disciplines.

Read more less

John Brockman brings together the world's best-known physicists and science writers-including Brian Greene, Walter Isaacson, Nobel Prize-winner Frank Wilczek, Benoit Mandelbrot, and Martin Rees-to explain the universe in all wondrous splendor. In The Universe, today's most influential science writers explain the science behind our evolving understanding of the universe and everything in it, including the cutting edge research and discoveries that are shaping our knowledge. Lee Smolin reveals how math and cosmology are helping us create a theory of the whole universe. Benoit Mandelbrot looks back on a career devoted to fractal geometry. Neil Turok analyzes the fundamental laws of nature, what came before the big bang, and the possibility of a unified theory. Seth Lloyd investigates the impact of computational revolutions and the informational revolution. Lawrence Krauss provides fresh insight into gravity, dark matter, and the energy of empty space. Brian Greene and Walter Isaacson illuminate the genius who revolutionized modern science: Albert Einstein. And much more. Explore the universe with some of today's greatest minds: what it is, how it came into being, and what may happen next.

Read more less

Over 150 of the world's leading scientists and thinkers offer their choice of the ideas, strategies and arguments that will help all of us understand our world, and its future, better. Includes contributions from:Richard Dawkins, Stephen Pinker, Daniel Dennett, Clay Shirky, Daniel Goleman, Sam Harris, Lee Smolin, Matt Ridley, Mark Henderson, David Rowan, Sir Martin Rees, Craig Venter, Brian Eno, Jaron Lanier and David Brooks . . . among others.With his organisation Edge.org, the literary agent and all-purpose intellectual impresario John Brockman has brought together the most influential thinkers of our age. Every year he sets them a question, this year that question was: What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit?Their answers are collected in this book and explore philosophy, psychology, economics, and other disciplines - and all share one aim: to provide the most reliable ways of gaining knowledge about anything, whether it be human behaviour, corporate behaviour, the fate of the planet, or the future of the universe.

Read more less