Each year, The Edge asks a collection of interesting people (Clay Shirky, Craig Venter, Ray Kurzweil, etc) a provocative question. Last year, the question was: “what do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?” (Think about that for a bit.) This year’s question:
What is your dangerous idea?
The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?
The replies are fascinating. A few samples:
- The idea of zero parental influence. What if parents have no (non-biological) ability to affect their child’s behavior or intelligence?
- The fight against global warming is lost.
- Is science ‘running out of control’? “We are far more empowered by science than any previous generation was: it offers immense potential — especially for the developing world — but there could be catastrophic downsides. We are living in the first century when the greatest risks come from human actions rather than from nature.”
My personal favorite: the unknown becomes known, and is not replaced with a new unknown. What if all meaningful questions have already been asked?
(Thanks, Shaifali, for the link)
WOW! “The unknown becomes known, and is not replaced with a new unknown. Yeah that is a very dangerous idea for it’s level of hubris that humans will eventual know all, which is to say we truly can know the mind of god. This would be the death of rationalism. Interesting.
Left by Terry Leach on February 12th, 2006