Edge #505: The State of Informed Bewilderment - A Conversation With John Naughton

News from Edge To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves. January 4, 2018 THE THIRD CULTURE [The State of Informed Bewilderment]( A Conversation With [John Naughton]( In relation to the Internet and the changes it has already brought in our society, my feeling is that although we don’t know really where it’s heading because it’s too early in the change, we’ve had one stroke of luck. The stroke of luck was that, as a species, we’ve conducted this experiment once before. We’re living through a transformation of our information environment. This happened once before, and we know quite a lot about it. It was kicked off in 1455 by Johannes Gutenberg and his invention of printing by movable type. In the centuries that followed, that invention not only transformed humanity’s information environment, it also led to colossal changes in society and the world. You could say that what Gutenberg kicked off was a world in which we were all born. Even now, it’s the world in which most of us were shaped. That’s changing for younger generations, but that’s the case for people like me. JOHN NAUGHTON is a senior research fellow at Cambridge University's Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. He is an Internet columnist for the London Observer, and author of From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg. [John Naughton's Edge Bio page]( [ [Continue...]( ] Pre-order today! Release date: January 16, 2018 IN THE NEWS MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW [Best Tech Books of 2017]( By Elizabeth Woyke [12.23.17] This Idea Is Brilliant stands out by identifying dozens of scientific concepts that deserve more attention, selected with input from leading thinkers such as the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and the technology writer Nicholas Carr. It’s the latest creation of Edge.org, a website that draws attention to ideas on "the frontiers of knowledge in the areas of evolutionary biology, genetics, computer science, neurophysiology, psychology, and physics" and has published other (best-selling) books using a similar expert-crowdsourced model. [ [Continue...]( ] Edge Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit private operating foundation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. [EDGE.ORG]( John Brockman, Editor and Publisher Russell Weinberger, Associate Publisher Nina Stegeman, Associate Editor Copyright (c) 2018 by Edge Foundation, Inc. 260 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10001 All Rights Reserved. Published by Edge Foundation, Inc. --------------------------------------------------------------- "The World's Smartest Website. Edge is a salon for the world's finest minds." — The Guardian • "We'd certainly be better off if everyone sampled the fabulous Edge symposium which, like the best in science, is modest and daring at once." — David Brooks, The New York Times • "An epicenter of bleeding-edge insight across science, technology and beyond . . . with some of our era's greatest thinkers . . . A lavish cerebral feast." — The Atlantic • "Not just wonderful, but plausible." — The Wall Street Journal • "Deliciously creative, the variety astonishes. Intellectual skyrockets of stunning brilliance." — Denis Dutton, Founder, Arts & Letters Daily • "Take a look. No matter who you are, you are bound to find something that will drive you crazy." — The New York Times --------------------------------------------------------------- Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](