(10,600 words)
This online EDGE edition is available at:
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html
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THE THIRD CULTURE
SUMMER READING
Recent and Forthcoming Titles from Edge Contributors
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http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#summer
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THE REALITY CLUB
RESPONSES TO CHIS ANDERSON'S THE END OF THEORY
George Dyson, Kevin Kelly, Stewart Brand, W. Daniel Hillis, Sean Carroll, Jaron Lanier, Joseph Traub, John Horgan, Bruce Sterling, Douglas Rushkoff, Oliver Morton, Daniel Everett, Gloria Origgi, Lee Smolin, Joel Garreau
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#rc
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GEORGE DYSON: Just as we may eventually take the brain apart, neuron by neuron, and never find the model, we may discover that true AI came into existence without anyone ever developing a coherent model of reality or an unambiguous theory of intelligence. Reality, with all its ambiguities, does the job just fine. It may be that our true destiny as a species is to build an intelligence that proves highly successful, whether we understand how it works or not. ... [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#dysong
KEVIN KELLY: My guess is that this emerging method will be one additional tool in the evolution of the scientific method. It will not replace any current methods (sorry, no end of science!) but will compliment established theory-driven science. Let's call this data intensive approach to problem solving Correlative Analytics. I think Chris squanders a unique opportunity by titling his thesis "The End of Theory" because this is a negation, the absence of something. Rather it is the beginning of something, and this is when you have a chance to accelerate that birth by giving it a positive name. ... [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#kelly
STEWART BRAND: Digital humanity apparently crossed from one watershed to another over the last few years. Now we are noticing. Noticing usually helps. We'll converge on one or two names for the new watershed and watch what induction tells us about how it works and what it's good for. . .. [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#brand
W. DANIEL HILLIS: Chris Anderson says that "this approach to science—hypothesize, model, test—is becoming obsolete". No doubt the statement is intended to be provocative, but I do not see even a little bit of truth in it. I share his enthusiasm for the possibilities created by petabyte datasets and parallel computing, but I do not see why large amounts of data will undermine the scientific method.
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#hillis
SEAN CARROLL: ... Sometimes it will be hard, or impossible, to discover simple models explaining huge collections of messy data taken from noisy, nonlinear phenomenon. But it doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Hypotheses aren't simply useful tools in some potentially-outmoded vision of science; they are the whole point. Theory is understanding, and understanding our world is what science is all about. [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#carroll
JARON LANIER: Anderson pretends it's useless to be a human. Machines should now do the thinking, and be the heroes of discovery. ...I say "pretends" because I don't believe he is being sincere. I think it's a ploy to get a certain kind of attention. Hearing anti-human rhetoric has the same sting as a movie plot about a serial killer. Some deep, moral part of each of us is so offended that we can't turn off our attention. ... [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#lanier
JOSEPH TRAUB: I agree with Danny Hillis that large amounts of data will not undermine the scientific method. Indeed, scientific laws encode a huge amount of data. Think of Maxwell's equations or Kepler's laws for example. Why does Chris Anderson think that with still more data, laws (what he calls theory) will become less important?
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#traub
JOHN HORGAN: Chris Anderson seems to think computers will reduce science to pure induction, predicting the future based on the past. This method of course can't predict black swans, anomalous, truly novel events. Theory-laden human experts can't foresee black swans either, but for the foreseeable future, human experts will know how to handle black swans more adeptly when they appear. ... [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#horgan
BRUCE STERLING: ... I do have to wonder why—after Google promptly demolished advertising—Chris Anderson wants Google to pick on scientific theory. Advertising is nothing like scientific theory. Advertising has always been complete witch-doctor hokum. After blowing down the house of straw, Google might want to work its way up to the bricks. ... [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#sterling
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF: When I read Anderson's extremely astute arguments about the direction of science, I find myself concerned that science could very well take the same course as politics or business. The techniques of mindless petabyte churn favor industry over consideration, consumption over creation, and—dare I say it—mindless fascism over thoughtful self-government. ... [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#rushkoff
OLIVER MORTON: Chris Anderson's provocations spur much thought—I'll limit it to two specifics and two generalities. The first specific is that Anderson mischaracterises particle physics. The problem with particle physics is not data poverty—it is theoretical affluence. The Tevatron, and LEP before it, have produced amounts of data vast for their times—data is in rich supply. The problem is that the standard model explains it all. The drive beyond the standard model is not a reflection of data poverty, but of theory feeding on theory because the data are so well served. ... [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#morton
DANIEL EVERETT: More intriguingly, do children acquire language based on a genetically limited set of hypotheses or do they treat language like the internet and function as statistical calculators, little "Googlers"? ... [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#everett
GLORIA ORIGGI: Science may become a cheaper game from the point of view of the investment for discovering new facts: but, as a philosopher, I do not think that cheap intellectual games are less challenging or less worth playing. ... [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#origgi
LEE SMOLIN: To see what to think about Anderson's hypothesis that computers storing and processing vast amounts of data will replace the need to formulate hypotheses and theories, one can look at whether it has any relevance to how supercomputers are actually being used in contemporary physics. ... [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#smolin
JOEL GARREAU: Maybe things are different in physics and biology. But in my experience studying culture, values and society, data lags reality by definition—they are a snapshot of the past. And when human reality does not conveniently line up with established ways of thinking, the data can lag by years, if not decades. ... [MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#garreau
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IN THE NEWS
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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
The Mirror Neuron Revolution: Explaining What Makes Humans Social
By Jonah Lehrer
Neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni discusses mirror neurons, autism and the potentially damaging effects of violent movies.
[MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#iac
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THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
By Nicholas Carr
... As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.
[MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#atl
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BLOGGINGHEADS TV
Science Saturday: Summer Doldrums Edition
John Horgan & George Johnson
The end of science: Wired Magazine steps on John's turf (07:25)
AI's as-yet-unfulfilled promise (09:41)
The limits of medical science (07:54)
Political pundits: just a bunch of dart-throwing monkeys (13:01)
Who cares why quantum mechanics works? (05:59)
Incredible propaganda for psychedelic drugs (02:40)
[MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#btv
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LOS ANGELES TIMES
Mysteries of Time, and the Multiverse
By John Johnson Jr.
In his studies of entropy and the irreversibility of time, Caltech physicist Sean Carroll is exploring the idea that our universe is part of a larger structure.
[MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#lat
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SEED MAGAZINE
THE SEED SALON
The Transcript: Tom Wolfe + Michael Gazzaniga
The father of cognitive neuroscience and the original New Journalist discuss status, free will, the human condition, and The Interpreter.
[MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#seed
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HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Should You Invest in the Long Tail?
By Anita Elberse
It was a compelling idea: In the digitized world, there's more money to be made in niche offerings than in blockbusters. The data tell a different story.
[MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#hbr
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
PORTALS
Study Refutes Niche Theory Spawned by Web
By Lee Gomes
A book from 2006, "The Long Tail," was one of those that appear periodically and demand that we rethink everything we presume to know about how society works. In this case, the Web and its nearly unlimited choices were said to be remaking the economy and culture. Now, a new Harvard Business Review article pushes back, and says any change occurring may be of an entirely different sort.
[MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#wsj
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NEWSWEEK
THE FUTURE OF ENERGY
A Bug to Save the Planet
By Fareed Zakaria
Genome pioneer Craig Venter wants to make a bacterium that will eat CO2 and produce fuel.
[MORE]
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge249.html#nwbug
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This online EDGE edition is available at:
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