The 2013 Edge question is, What *should* we be worried about: Tell us something that worries you (for scientific reasons), but doesn't seem to be on the popular radar yet—and why it should be. Or tell us something that you have stopped worrying about, even if others do, and why it should be taken off the radar.
There are 151 responses, from people who like to think of themselves as the world's "most complex and sophisticated minds". It's grim reading, not so much because of the problems set out before us by these great brains, but because such a question inevitably brings out the inner crank. It's like asking 151 pub bores what they think's wrong with the world, and giving them each five minutes. At least there's nothing about them foreigners coming here taking our jobs, or the fluoride they put in the water (well, I don't think so: I haven't read them all). No, they're very intelligent and well-spoken; but they're still basically pub bores.
So...Sir Martin Rees bangs on, again, about coming catastrophes and the end of the world as we know it; Geoffrey Miller seems to think we should be learning from the eugenics policies of the Chinese (yes, everyone else thought the topic was dead, but here it comes again, freshly minted for the 21st century); Brian Eno (interesting musician but much over-rated as a Great Thinker in my opinion) worries about what politicians do: it's all Gaza and Guantanamo and Iraq, so presumably he's unconcerned about Syria or Iran or North Korea...
Anyway, it's all here if you can be bothered. I've only skimmed, and there may be one or two gems in there, but if there are they're well hidden.
It does go on and on, doesn't it? The individual portions are tasty, but overall it's like a 14lb Christmas pudding - far too much to consume at a dozen sittings. I haven't read the lot, for the obvious reason, but it strikes me that some of the contributions are decidedly parochial. I thought John Naughton was good, Karl Sabbagh very bad indeed, and Brian Eno distressingly conventional in an "it's all our fault" sort of way. But then I've long thought that no-one who performs should command any off-stage attention.
Incidentally I've met an awful lot of people of all sorts and conditions. Anyone who, after the age of about 30, who regards him- or herself as especially complex or sophisticated needs his or her arse kicked. Those who pander to such delusions should not get off so lightly..
Posted by: Richard Powell | January 16, 2013 at 12:14 AM