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This is a thought provoking site, if you haven't seen it you might find
of interest. The Edge's annual question and responses from assorted
scientific heavies http://www.edge.org/q2005/q05_print.html
Eric Siegel
Executive VP
Programs and Planning
Connections Project Director
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Queens, NY 11368
[log in to unmask]
www.nyscience.org
More info from the site:
=================================
"WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS TRUE EVEN THOUGH YOU CANNOT PROVE IT?"
Great minds can sometimes guess the truth before they have either the
evidence or arguments for it (Diderot called it having the "esprit de
divination"). What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove
it?
The 2005 Edge Question has generated many eye-opening responses from a
"who's who" of third culture scientists and science-minded thinkers. The
120 contributions comprise a document of 60,000 words.
....
We are in the age of "searchculture", in which Google and other search
engines are leading us into a future rich with an abundance of correct
answers along with an accompanying naοve sense of certainty. In the
future, we will be able to answer the question, but will we be bright
enough to ask it?
This is an alternative path. It may be that it's okay not to be certain,
but to have a hunch, and to perceive on that basis. There is also
evidence here that the scientists are thinking beyond their individual
fields. Yes, they are engaged in the science of their own areas of
research, but more importantly they are also thinking deeply about
creating new understandings about the limits of science, of seeing
science not just as a question of knowing things, but as a means of
tuning into the deeper questions of who we are and how we know.
It may sound as if I am referring to a group of intellectuals, and not
scientists. In fact, I refer to both. In 1991, I suggested the idea of a
third culture, which "consists of those scientists and other thinkers in
the empirical world who, through their work and expository writing, are
taking the place of the traditional intellectual in rendering visible
the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are. "
I believe that the scientists of the third culture are the pre-eminent
intellectuals of our time. But I can't prove it.
Happy New Year!
John Brockman
Publisher & Editor
This year's Edge Question was suggested by Nicholas Humphrey.
(120 contributors; 60,000 words:) Howard Gardner Nicholas Humphrey
Marc D. Hauser Daniel Gilbert George Dyson Daniel C. Dennett
William Calvin Lawrence Krauss Neil Gershenfeld Joseph LeDoux
Stephen Kosslyn Philip W. Anderson Kevin Kelly Paul Davies Haim
Harari Janna Levin Steven Pinker Alison Gopnik Martin E. P.
Seligman John McWhorter Freeman Dyson Robert Sapolsky Leonard
Susskind Keith Devlin Susan Blackmore Clifford Pickover Piet Hut
Gino Segre Roger Schank Alan Kay Bruce Sterling Judith Rich
Harris Arnold Trehub Gregory Benford Lynn Margulis Sam Harris
Elizabeth Spelke Kai Krause Todd Feinberg Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Irene Pepperberg Jesse Bering Scott Atran Karl Sabbagh Gary
Marcus Stuart A. Kauffman Ray Kurzweil John Barrow Jaron Lanier
Alex Pentland Richard Dawkins Jean Paul Schmetz Thomas Metzinger
John R. Skoyles John Horgan David Gelernter Jordan Pollack Lee
Smolin Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Jeffrey Epstein Michael Shermer
Leon Lederman Tom Standage Simon Baron-Cohen Stephen Petranek J.
Craig Venter Maria Spiropulu David Buss Esther Dyson David Myers
Denis Dutton Donald Hoffman Kenneth Ford Margaret Wertheim
Alun Anderson Philip Zimbardo Paul Bloom Robert Provine W.
Daniel Hillis Martin Nowak Seth Lloyd Donald I. Williamson
Jonathan Haidt Rebecca Goldstein Ned Block Christine Finn Rupert
Sheldrake Rudy Rucker Douglas Rushkoff Verena Huber-Dyson Chris
W. Anderson Charles Simonyi Carolyn Porco Martin Rees Pamela
McCorduck James O'Donnell John McCarthy Carlo Rovelli Leo
Chalupa Howard Rheingold Steve Giddings Tor Nψrretranders
Stanislas Deheane Benoit Mandelbrot Ellen Winner Paul Steinhardt
Oliver Morton Alexander Vilenkin Terrence Sejnowski Brian Goodwin
Stephen H. Schneider Randolph Nesse Timothy Taylor Marti Hearst
Daniel Goleman Jared Diamond Anton Zeilinger Ian Wilmut Robert
Trivers Ian McEwan
Eric Siegel
Executive VP
Programs and Planning
Connections Project Director
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Queens, NY 11368
[log in to unmask]
www.nyscience.org
***********************************************************************
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