Review
"A stellar cast of thinkers tackles the really big questions facing scientists." (GUARDIAN )
GUARDIAN
"A stellar cast of thinkers tackles the really big questions facing scientists."
Product Description
Who are the cutting-edge thinkers of today? John Brockman argues that scientists - through their research and writing - are creating a 'third culture' that recalls the Rennaissance ideal of a single intellectual whole. Combining this holistic awareness of the humanities and science, these are the men and women shaping modern thought. The result of conversations with twenty-two of today's top intellectuals, the book includes contributions from Jared Diamond on population theory; Steven Pinker on human nature; Martin Rees on the future of the universe. SCIENCE AT THE EDGE introduces us to the best scientific minds of the 21st century, giving insight and debate into how best to take humanity forward.
From the Inside Flap
WHO ARE THE KEY THINKERS OF TODAY? John Brockman, author, editor, literary agent and founder of the Web based forum Edge (www.edge.org), argues that the stifling separation of western thought into two rigidly polarised camps has been ended by the evolution of a new 'third culture'. Through research and writing, its members recall the Renaissance ideal of a single intellectual whole. Grounded in the real world and characterised by their holistic awareness of the humanities and sciences, these people are bridging C. P. Snow's two-culture divide and asking the questions that excite and challenge. Introducing and exploring this new intellectual landscape, the twenty-two participants in this stimulating book share their thoughts on three broad topics: human nature, technology and cosmology. The provocative and diverse contributions include best-selling author of The Blank Slate Steven Pinker on the struggle to reach a truly biological theory of the mind; Pullitzer Prize-winner Jared Diamond on why cultural development happened so differently around the world; Rodney Brooks, Director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, on the path to machine intelligence; and Sir Martin Rees on the emergence of complexity, the Big Bang and the ultra-early universe. In Science at the Edge, Brockman shows why the work and ideas of those who form the third culture is of such fundamental importance today, giving insight into who and what we are - and what we might become.
About the Author
John Brockman, president of the Edge Foundation and a founder of The Reality Club, is a writer and literary agent based in New York. He lives in New York and has written and edited twenty books.
