Aargh! My brain! 7

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1. 

   Jacobo Posted 11:50 am
   02 Jan 2006

   Rock n roll!Thanks for the link...there is some very interesting thinking going on with this bunch.  A couple of recurring themes in the responses were the absence of a soul and relativism, both of which are interesting.  However, the aching between my ears suggests that a good while digesting  both the question and the responses will be needed before considering an answer of my own...

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2. 

   odograph Posted 12:46 am
   03 Jan 2006

   IconoclastsMy gut reaction to a collection of iconoclasts is to be the same, right back at 'em. ;-)
   John Brockman does indeed collect some smart people, and I enjoy reading their essays each year(*), but as with any intellectual party, there will be some "one trick ponies" and some who's main talent appears to be self-promotion.
   The real fun is to weigh each article, for value or bs.
   * - I also read the book "the third culture" way back when it was new.  The book, like the lectures, was a combination of the mind-blowing and the banal.

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3. 

   odograph Posted 12:48 am
   03 Jan 2006

   BTWThe "most dangerous idea" for 2006 is that "freedom" isn't as useful a concept as it used to be.

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4. 

   City Hippy Posted 2:38 am
   03 Jan 2006

   Dangerous ideas and terrible inventionsThis looks superb stuff..will delve for sure...
   Puts me in mind of something organised by the Ecologist magazine and the Coady Institute. It is an essay contest with a £2,500 prize plus publication in the mag.
   Check it out at: http://www.theecologist.org/offer2.asp
   Essay topic: What is Humanity's worst Invention?
   Namaste
   CH
   
   City Hippy
   
   
   http://www.cityhippy.net

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5. 

   Jacobo Posted 2:56 am
   03 Jan 2006

   A dangerous ideaAfter brief consideration, my mind spends considerable--perhaps too much--time on the question, "Do problems have technical solutions, and what problems require something deeper?"  One might surmise that a dangerous idea is that there is a technological fix for any problem that we might face.  As the Edge question posits, it's not scary because we assume it to be false, but because it might be true: there might be technical solutions to each problem (or problem set).  If it's true, are we prepared to cope with the unintended consequences of each technical fix?

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6. 

   Biodiversivist Posted 4:41 pm
   03 Jan 2006

   Great link, good reading.All new technology is a double-edged sword, (garage door remotes used to trip roadside mines for example). Human nature is unchanging. We have never needed much technology to do great harm to each other and everything around us. When was the last time you saw a passenger pigeon, Carolina parakeet, golden toad, or wooly mammoth?
   The unraveling of the gene codes of groups of people who were isolated from one another over long periods of time may truly be a dangerous idea, specifically for the career of any researcher who may discover something society may not want to hear.
   One of the most dangerous ideas of this past decade is that biofuels hold the key to our looming problems. The fact that they don't will eventually become obvious, but that may happen too late to save much of our biodiversity from going under the plow.
   
   
   
   In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Help acquire and protect ecological hotspots, give to a conservation organization: http://www.saveourbiodiversity.com

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7. 

   amazingdrx Posted 6:50 pm
   03 Jan 2006

   Danger!To the status quo.  Become an "Agent of Chaos".
   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1584450428/103-7705726-3810212?v=glance&n=283155
   Mwhahahahahaha.

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