A brilliant ensemble of the world’s most visionary scientists provides twenty-five original never-before-published essays about the advances in science and technology that we may see within our lifetimes. Theoretical physicist and bestselling author Paul Davies examines the likelihood that by the year 2050 we will be able to establish a continuing human presence on Mars. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi investigates the ramifications of engineering high-IQ, geneticially happy babies. Psychiatrist Nancy Etcoff explains current research into the creation of emotion-sensing jewelry that could gauge our moods and tell us when to take an anti-depressant pill. And evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins explores the probability that we will soon be able to obtain a genome printout that predicts our natural end for the same cost as a chest x-ray. (Will we want to read it? And will insurance companies and governments have access to it?) This fascinating and unprecedented book explores not only the practical possibilities of the near future, but also the social and political ramifications of the developments of the strange new world to come. Also includes original essays by: Lee Smolin Martin Rees Ian Stewart Brian Goodwin Marc D. Hauser Alison Gopnik Paul Bloom Geoffrey Miller Robert M. Sapolsky Steven Strogatz Stuart Kauffman John H. Holland Rodney Brooks Peter Atkins Roger C. Schank Jaron Lanier David Gelernter Joseph LeDoux Judith Rich Harris Samuel Barondes Paul W. Ewald Scientists love to speculate about the direction research and technology will take us, and editor John Brockman has given a stellar panel free rein to imagine the future in The Next Fifty Years . From brain-swapping and the hunt for extraterrestrials to the genetic elimination of unhappiness and a new scientific morality, the ideas in this book are wild and thought-provoking. The list of scientists and thinkers who participate is impressive: Lee Smolin and Martin Rees on cosmology; Ian Stewart on mathematics; and Richard Dawkins and Paul Davies on the life sciences, just to name a few. Many of the authors remind readers that science has changed a lot since the blind optimism of the early 20th century, and they are unanimously aware of the potential consequences of the developments they describe. Fifty years is a long time in the information age, and these essays do a credible and entertaining job of guessing where we're going. --Therese Littleton How will the world change over the next 50 years as a result of scientific research and discovery? Providing a forum in which more profound meanings for the future of humankind and science are theorized, Brockman, a noted literary agent specializing in science writers, compiled this collection of essays by leading scientists from various disciplines. One piece by Marc D. Hauser, a cognitive neuroscientist and author of Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think, demonstrates science's present and future ability to alter brain tissue across species and manipulate genetic material, but asks, Should we? Robert M. Sapolsky (biological sciences and neurology, Stanford Univ.) illustrates how societal forces, such as divorce rates, transient lifestyles, and a technology that raises expectations, will continue to contribute to one of our most serious epidemics, depression. Brockman's intriguing view that popularized scientific writing, benefiting both scientists and lay people, has created a new "public culture" is well demonstrated in this work. Recommended for academic and large public libraries. Loree Davis, Broward Cty. Lib., Fort Lauderdale, FL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Across the variety of these 25 essays commissioned by science superagent Brockman, one subject predominates: life. Whether a psychologist, cosmologist, molecular biologist, or chemist, the authors collectively sense that the coming decades will see fundamental discoveries. By 2050, we might know how life originated, if it exists or existed on Mars, if Earth-like planets exist in other solar systems, and if the universe is "biophilic." On this Earth, genome-fiddling will mature because the moral debates will be resolved. However, according to several psychologists in this volume, the existential problem of attaining happiness will persist amid genetic manipulation. At the same time, scientists will build quantum computers, and, according to one author's speculation, microbes will produce computers in a metabolic process. So consign the desktop to the boneyard and the Internet, too, for according to computer scientist David Gelernter's prediction, the "cybersphere" will replace them. These science-authors, many premiere in their field, are clear, provocative, and sure to interest science readers. Gilbert Taylor Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved ensemble of the world s most visionary scientists provides twenty-five original never-before-published essays about the advances in scienc