What Are You Optimistic About?
1 journaler for this copy...
7 Stars: Good
From the back cover: In an age of doom and gloom, learn what brings hope to the world's most brilliant minds.
The nightly news and conventional wisdom tell us that things are bad and getting worse. Yet despite dire predictions, scientists see many good things on the horizon. John Brockman, published of the Edge, the influential online salon, recently asked more than 150 high powered scientific thinkers to answer a vital question for our frequently pessimistic times: What Are You Optimistic About?
Spanning a wide range of topics, from string theory to education, from population growth to medicine, and even from global warming to the end of the world, this book is an impressive array of what world class minds have weighed in to answer carefully considered optimistic visions of tomorrow. Their provacative and controversial ideas may rouse your skepticism but they might possibly change our perceptions of humanities future.
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I have enjoyed many in this series, and picked this one up at a time that I felt I needed a pick me up. Unfortunately, I didn't necessarily agree with many of the essays, perhaps because it's old enough that we found some of the social items did not come to pass. (Even more true, as I sit here writing this during COVID 19 epidemic). Many of the articles state that we will stop being religious (or be more spiritual, less religious). And other than that overall impression, I find the book to be forgettable, many months later when I complete this review.
Still, I did find a few sections I wanted to remember:
(Marcel Gleiser) "Although I am an atheist, I do not forget what is behind the power of religious thought: quite simply, hope. Life is tough, people suffer, and rightly or wrongly, religion offers something for people to hold on to.... Scientists ought not forget that most people need some sort of spiritual guidance, a kind of guidance that science (at least as it is taught today) cannot offer. Science has shown, and keeps showing, that we live in a cold, hard universe, completely indifferent to us and life. ... Either science will teach us humility and respect for life or we will exterminate this most precious cosmic jewel. I am optimistic that scientists will teach people these lessons, instead of simply trying to rob them of their faith and offering nothing in return. "
From the back cover: In an age of doom and gloom, learn what brings hope to the world's most brilliant minds.
The nightly news and conventional wisdom tell us that things are bad and getting worse. Yet despite dire predictions, scientists see many good things on the horizon. John Brockman, published of the Edge, the influential online salon, recently asked more than 150 high powered scientific thinkers to answer a vital question for our frequently pessimistic times: What Are You Optimistic About?
Spanning a wide range of topics, from string theory to education, from population growth to medicine, and even from global warming to the end of the world, this book is an impressive array of what world class minds have weighed in to answer carefully considered optimistic visions of tomorrow. Their provacative and controversial ideas may rouse your skepticism but they might possibly change our perceptions of humanities future.
------------------
I have enjoyed many in this series, and picked this one up at a time that I felt I needed a pick me up. Unfortunately, I didn't necessarily agree with many of the essays, perhaps because it's old enough that we found some of the social items did not come to pass. (Even more true, as I sit here writing this during COVID 19 epidemic). Many of the articles state that we will stop being religious (or be more spiritual, less religious). And other than that overall impression, I find the book to be forgettable, many months later when I complete this review.
Still, I did find a few sections I wanted to remember:
(Marcel Gleiser) "Although I am an atheist, I do not forget what is behind the power of religious thought: quite simply, hope. Life is tough, people suffer, and rightly or wrongly, religion offers something for people to hold on to.... Scientists ought not forget that most people need some sort of spiritual guidance, a kind of guidance that science (at least as it is taught today) cannot offer. Science has shown, and keeps showing, that we live in a cold, hard universe, completely indifferent to us and life. ... Either science will teach us humility and respect for life or we will exterminate this most precious cosmic jewel. I am optimistic that scientists will teach people these lessons, instead of simply trying to rob them of their faith and offering nothing in return. "
