This Idea Must Die: Scientific Theories That Are Blocking Progress

Description

Reporting from the cutting edge of scientific discovery, today's visionary thinkers target the greatest roadblocks to innovation. Few truly new ideas are developed without first abandoning old ones. In the past, discoveries often had to wait for the rise of the next generation to see questions in a new light and let go of old truisms. Today, in a world that is defined by a rapid rate of change, staying on the cutting edge has as much to do with shedding outdated notions as adopting new ones. In this spirit, John Brockman, publisher of the online salon Edge.org ("the world's smartest website"-The Guardian), asked 175 of the world's most influential scientists, economists, artists, and philosophers: What scientific idea is ready for retirement Jared Diamond explores the diverse ways that new ideas emerge * Nassim Nicholas Taleb takes down the standard deviation * Richard Thaler and novelist Ian McEwan reveal the usefulness of "bad" ideas * Steven Pinker dismantles the working theory of human behavior * Richard Dawkins renounces essentialism * Sherry Turkle reevaluates our expectations of artificial intelligence * Physicist 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 * Alan Guth rethinks the origins of the universe * Sam Harris argues that our definition of science is too narrow * Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek disputes the division between mind and matter * Lawrence Krauss challenges the notion that the laws of physics were preordained * plus contributions from Daniel Goleman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Nicholas Carr, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Matt Ridley, Stewart Brand, Sean Carroll, Daniel C. Dennett, Helen Fisher, Douglas Rushkoff, Lee Smolin, Kevin Kelly, Freeman Dyson, and others.

The publisher of the online science salon Edge.org, John Brockman is the editor of the national bestsellers This Idea Must Die, This Explains Everything, This Will Make You Smarter, and other volumes.

Praise for This Idea Must Die: "Take a look. No matter who you are, you are bound to find something that will drive you crazy." -- New York Times "Garrulous and argumentative. ... Brockman's formula is tried and tested. Better still, it shows no sign of getting old." -- New Scientist "This Idea Must Die is an excellent gathering of thoughts, rants and lamentations to add to your book list." -- Forbes "Discern[s] the zeitgeist of ideas with which some of our era's greatest minds are tussling. ... Profound. ... Provocative. ... Mind-stretching." -- Brain Pickings "Fascinating. ... Thought-provoking." -- Science News "A fascinating smorgasbord of 175 short essays about every field and facet of research." -- Science News "Brockman succeeds in presenting scientific work that will appeal to a variety of readers, no matter their background." -- Publishers Weekly Praise for Edge: "Physics, statistics, robotics, linguistics, medicine-all are zestfully scrutinized in this exuberant, mind-blowing gathering of innovative thinkers." -- Booklist "An epicenter of bleeding-edge insight across science, technology, and beyond." -- Atlantic Monthly "The brightest minds in the known universe." -- Vanity Fair "A forum for the world's most brilliant minds." -- The Observer (UK) "A provocative and informative compilation." -- Library Journal