This year The Edge asked 119 notable scientists a single question: What is your most dangerous idea? There are some big names here: Steven Pinker, Jared Diamond, and Richard Dawkins among them. According to reporters who have already read through most of the entries, the responses show that many scientists believe studies of evolution will continue to develop and reach into new areas.
John Brock, editor and publisher of The Edge: "A realistic biology of the mind, advances in evolutionary biology, physics, information technology, genetics, neurobiology, psychology, engineering, the chemistry of materials: all are questions of critical importance with respect to what it means to be human. For the first time, we have the tools and the will to undertake the scientific study of human nature."
Just a sample from Howard Gardner, Harvard psychologist: "Hope for human survival and progress rests on two assumptions: (1) Human constructive tendencies can counter human destructive tendencies, and (2) Human beings can act on the basis of long-term considerations, rather than merely short-term needs and desires. My personal optimism, and my years of research on "good work", could not be sustained without these assumptions. Yet I lay awake at night with the dangerous thought that pessimists may be right. For the first time in history — as far as we know! — we humans live in a world that we could completely destroy." These are truly thought-provoking ideas, to say the very least.
