What will change everything? (@ edge.org)

Now we’re into a new year I suppose it’s the perfect point to ask “What will change everything? - What game-changing scientific ideas and developments do you expect to live to see?"  The question was put to hundreds of scientists, writers, artists and philosophers amongst others, and responses are posted on www.edge.org (The Edge Annual Question – 2009).  ..fascinating and addictive reading.

Some of the highlights for me..

A NEW KIND OF MIND from KEVIN KELLY  Editor-At-Large, Wired; Author, New Rules for the New Economy

CRACKING OPEN THE LOCKBOX OF TALENT from HOWARD GARDNER  Psychologist, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Author, Five Minds for the Future  (..but how limiting could it be if you are one for whom cracking open the lockbox revealed very little?)

LABORATORY EARTH COLONIES from JOHN GOTTMAN  Psychologist; Founder of Gottman Institute; Author (with Julie Gottman), And Baby Makes Three (“In the year 2,500 more than 20,000 ships set out, 2 headed for each planet. It was inevitable that many ships would successfully make the journey. No one knew what they would find. There was no plan for communication between the stars. The colonization of the Milky Way had begun.”)

WISDOM REBORN from ROGER C. SCHANK  Psychologist & Computer Scientist; Engines for Education Inc.; Author, Making Minds Less Well Educated Than Our Own (“An archive needs to be created that has all the wisdom of the world in it. People have sought to do this for years, in the form of encyclopaedias and such, but they have failed to do what was necessary to make those encyclopaedias useful.” ….fantastic! “Having a "reminding machine" that gets reminding of universal wisdom as needed will indeed change everything.”)

A WEB-EMPOWERED REVOLUTION IN TEACHING from CHRIS ANDERSON  Curator, TED Conference (I love the idea of this “..a young girl born in Africa today will probably have access in 10 years' time to a cell phone with a high-resolution screen, a web connection, and more power than the computer you own today. We can imagine her obtaining face-to-face insight and encouragement from her choice of the world's great teachers. She will get a chance to be what she can be. And she might just end up being the person who saves the planet for our grandchildren”)

There are hundreds of contributions on the site.

Happy New Year…