John Brockman

Thirty-five years ago, C. P. Snow, in a now famous essay, wrote about the polarization of the "two cultures"—literary intellectuals on the one hand, and scientists on the other. Although he hoped for the emergence of a "third culture" that would bridge the gap, it is only recently that science has changed the intellectual landscape. Brockman's thesis that science is emerging as the intellectual center of our society is brought to life vividly in THE THIRD CULTURE, which weaves together the voices of some of today's most influential scientific figures, including: Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins on the implications of evolution Steven Pinker, Marvin Minsky, Daniel C. Dennett, and Roger Penrose on how the mind works Murray Gell-Mann and Stuart Kauffman on the new sciences of complexity THE THIRD CULTURE is an honest picture of science in action. It is at once stimulating, challenging, and riveting.

More than sixty years ago, mathematician-philosopher Norbert Wiener published a book on the place of machines in society that ended with a warning: "we shall never receive the right answers to our questions unless we ask the right questions.... The hour is very late, and the choice of good and evil knocks at our door." In the wake of advances in unsupervised, self-improving machine learning, a small but influential community of thinkers is considering Wiener's words again. In POSSIBLE MINDS, John Brockman gathers their disparate visions of where AI might be taking us. The fruit of the long history of Brockman's profound engagement with the most important scientific minds who have been thinking about AI—from Alison Gopnik and David Deutsch to Frank Wilczek and Stephen Wolfram—POSSIBLE MINDS is an ideal introduction to the landscape of crucial issues AI presents. The collision between opposing perspectives is salutary and exhilarating; some of these figures, such as computer scientist Stuart Russell, Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, and physicist Max Tegmark, are deeply concerned with the threat of AI, including the existential one, while others, notably robotics entrepreneur Rodney Brooks, philosopher Daniel Dennett, and bestselling author Steven Pinker, have a very different view.

Evolutionary science lies at the heart of a modern understanding of the natural world. Darwin’s theory has withstood 150 years of scientific scrutiny, and today it not only explains the origin and design of living things, but highlights the importance of a scientific understanding in our culture and in our lives. Recently the movement known as “Intelligent Design” has attracted the attention of journalists, educators, and legislators. The scientific community is puzzled and saddened by this trend–not only because it distorts modern biology, but also because it diverts people from the truly fascinating ideas emerging from the real science of evolution. INTELLIGENT THOUGHT features fifteen of our preeminent thinkers whose clear, accessible, and passionate essays reveal the fact and power of Darwin’s theory, and the beauty of the scientific quest to understand our world.

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 (“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?

Launching a hard-hitting new series from Edge and Harper Perennial, editor John Brockman delivers this cutting-edge master class covering everything you need to know about Culture. With original contributions by the world’s leading thinkers and scientists, including Jared Diamond, Daniel C. Dennett, Brian Eno, Jaron Lanier, Nicholas Christakis, and others, CULTURE offers a mind-expanding primer on a fundamental topic. Unparalleled in scope, depth, insight and quality, Edge's CULTURE is not to be missed.

HOW THINGS ARE is a gathering together of some of the most sophisticated and distinguished scientists and thinkers in the world, each contributing an original piece—an elementary idea, a basic concept, and tool for thought—relevant to his or her field of science. The appeal of the essays is their focus and their brevity: a single theme; a surprising point of view; an explanation about why a theory is acceptable or not. HOW THINGS ARE gives us a chance to see the minds of distinguished scientist and thinkers at work: the questions they ask, the methods they use; the thought processes they follow in trying to arrive at an understanding of the world around us, and of ourselves.

All around us the techno-memes are proliferating, and gearing up to take control; not that they realise it; they are just selfish replicators doing what selfish replicators do – getting copied whenever and wherever they can, regardless of the consequences. In this case they are using us human meme machines as their first stage copying machinery, until something better comes along. Artificial meme machines are improving all the time, and the step that will change everything is when these machines become self-replicating. Then they will no longer need us. Whether we live or die, or whether the planet is habitable for us or not, will be of no consequence for their further evolution.

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 ("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.

More than one hundred of the world's leading thinkers write about things they believe in, despite the absence of concrete proof. Scientific theory, more often than not, is born of bold assumption, disparate bits of unconnected evidence, and educated leaps of faith. Some of the most potent beliefs among brilliant minds are based on supposition alone—yet that is enough to push those minds toward making the theory viable. Eminent cultural impresario, editor, and publisher of Edge, John Brockman asked a group of leading scientists and thinkers to answer the question: What do you believe to be true even though you cannot prove it? This book brings together the very best answers from the most distinguished contributors. Thought-provoking and hugely compelling, this collection of bite-size thought-experiments is a fascinating insight into the instinctive beliefs of some of the most brilliant minds today.

From Copernicus to Darwin, to current-day thinkers, scientists have always promoted theories and unveiled discoveries that challenge everything society holds dear; ideas with both positive and dire consequences. Many thoughts that resonate today are dangerous not because they are assumed to be false, but because they might turn out to be true. What do the world's leading scientists and thinkers consider to be their most dangerous idea? Through the leading online forum Edge, the call went out, and this compelling and easily digestible volume collects the answers. From using medication to permanently alter our personalities to contemplating a universe in which we are utterly alone, to the idea that the universe might be fundamentally inexplicable, WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA? takes an unflinching look at the daring, breathtaking, sometimes terrifying thoughts that could forever alter our world and the way we live in it.

The nightly news and conventional wisdom tell us that things are bad and getting worse. Yet despite dire predictions, scientists see many good things on the horizon. John Brockman, publisher of Edge, the influential online salon, recently asked more than 150 high-powered scientific thinkers to answer a vital question for our frequently pessimistic times: "What are you optimistic about?" Spanning a wide range of topics—from string theory to education, from population growth to medicine, and even from global warming to the end of world—WHAT ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC ABOUT? is an impressive array of what world-class minds (including Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling authors, and Harvard professors, among others) have weighed in to offer carefully considered optimistic visions of tomorrow. Their provocative and controversial ideas may rouse skepticism, but they might possibly change our perceptions of humanity's future.

Scientific developments radically change and enlighten our understanding of the world—whether it's advances in technology and medical research or the latest revelations of neuroscience, psychology, physics, economics, anthropology, climatology, or genetics. And yet amid the flood of information today, it's often difficult to recognize the truly revolutionary ideas that will have lasting impact. In the spirit of identifying the most significant new theories and discoveries, John Brockman, publisher of Edge ("The world's smartest website" —THE GUARDIAN), asked 198 of the finest minds What do you consider the most interesting recent scientific news? What makes it important?

What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? That is the question John Brockman, publisher of the acclaimed science salon Edge (“The world’s smartest website”—THE GUARDIAN), presented to 205 of the world’s most influential thinkers from across the intellectual spectrum—award-winning physicists, economists, psychologists, philosophers, novelists, artists, and more. From the origins of the universe to the order of everyday life, THIS IDEA IS BRILLIANT takes readers on a tour of the bold, exciting, and underappreciated scientific concepts that will enrich every mind.

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.

The Reality Club is an informal group of adventurous intellectuals whose by-invitation-only membership roster reads like a Who's Who of American arts, science, politics, and business—particle physicist Gerald Feinberg, anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson, linguist Vitaly Shevoroshkin, cyberneticist and video artist Paul Ryan. Theirs are the cutting-edge minds of our time, whose ideas are creating the reality of tomorrow. The Reality Club has been meeting once or twice a month, in private sessions in New York City, since 1981. Now it's going public in a series of thematic books, of which WAYS OF KNOWING—thirteen provocative essays on the theme of how we learn, think, and process information—is the third volume. Like its predecessors, SPECULATIONS and DOING SCIENCE, it is required reading for anyone who appreciates the life of the mind, the unflinching search for truth, and reading for sheer intellectual pleasure.

Featuring a foreword by DANIEL KAHNEMAN, Nobel Prize-winning author of THINKING, FAST AND SLOW, this is a little book of profound questions (only questions!)—unknowns that address the secrets of our world, our civilization, the meaning of life. Here are the deepest riddles that have fascinated, obsessed, and haunted the greatest thinkers of our time, including Nobel laureates, cosmologists, philosophers, economists, prize-winning novelists, religious scholars, and more than 250 leading scientists, artists, and theorists. In THE LAST UNKNOWNS, John Brockman, publisher of Edge, asks "a mind-blowing gathering of innovative thinkers" (Booklist): "What is ‘The Last Question,’ your last question, the question for which you will be remembered?"

Even geniuses change their minds sometimes. Edge, the influential online intellectual salon, recently asked 150 high-powered thinkers to discuss their most telling missteps and reconsiderations: What have you changed your mind about? The answers were brilliant, eye-opening, fascinating, sometimes shocking, and certain to kick-start countless passionate debates. Read Steven Pinker on the future of human evolution; Richard Dawkins on the mysteries of courtship; Sam Harris on the indifference of Mother Nature; Nassim Nicholas Taleb on the irrelevance of probability; Chris Anderson on the reality of global warming; Alan Alda on the existence of God; Lisa Randall on the secrets of the Sun; Ray Kurzweil on the possibility of extraterrestrial life; Brian Eno on what it means to be a "revolutionary"; Helen Fisher on love, fidelity, and the viability of marriage; Irene Pepperberg on learning from parrots. . . and many others.

The newest addition to John Brockman’s Edge series explores life itself, bringing together the world’s leading biologists, geneticists, and evolutionary theorists—including Richard Dawkins, Edward O. Wilson, J. Craig Venter, and Freeman Dyson. Scientists’ understanding of life is progressing more rapidly than at any point in human history, from the extraordinary decoding of DNA to the controversial emergence of biotechnology. Featuring pioneering biologists, geneticists, physicists, and science writers, Life explains just how far we’ve come—and takes a brilliantly educated guess at where we’re heading. Richard Dawkins and J. Craig Venter compare genes to digital information, and sketch the frontiers of genomic research. Edward O. Wilson reveals what ants can teach us about building a superorganism—and, in turn, about how cells build an organism. Elsewhere, David Haig reports new findings on how mothers and fathers individually influence the human genome, while Kary Mullis covers cutting edge treatments for dangerous viruses. And there’s much more in this fascinating volume. We may never have all the answers. But the thinkers collected in LIFE are asking questions that will keep us dreaming for generations.

The Reality Club is an informal group of adventurous intellectuals whose by-invitation-only membership roster reads like a Who's Who of American arts, science, politics, and business—particle physicist Gerald Feinberg, anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson, linguist Vitaly Shevoroshkin, cyberneticist and video artist Paul Ryan. Theirs are the cutting-edge minds of our time, whose ideas are creating the reality of tomorrow. The Reality Club has been meeting once or twice a month, in private sessions in New York City, since 1981. Now it's going public in a series of thematic books, of which DOING SCIENCE—thirteen provocative essays on the subject of applied and theoretical science—is the second volume. Like its predecessor, SPECULATIONS, it is required reading for anyone who appreciates the life of the mind, the unflinching search for truth, and reading for sheer intellectual pleasure.

Marking the debut of a hard-hitting new series from Edge and Harper Perennial, editor John Brockman delivers a cutting-edge master class covering everything you need to know about The Mind. With original contributions by the world’s leading thinkers and scientists, including Steven Pinker, George Lakoff, Philip Zimbardo, V. S. Ramachandran, and others, THE MIND offers a consciousness-expanding primer on a fundamental topic. Unparalleled in scope, depth, insight and quality, Edge's THE MIND is not to be missed.

In this book, the fourth volume in The Reality Club series, some of today's most innovative thinkers probe the nature of creativity. They examine such topics as the role of creativity in scientific inquiry, the relationship between evolution and the mental process of creativity, and the aesthetic experience of creative work. An essay on the people who helped shape this century uncovers a consistent pattern in the creative process; another addresses the similarities among art, physics, and reality.