What Should We Be Worried About? Real Scenarios That Keep Scientists Up at Night

Drawn from the cutting-edge frontiers of science, What Should We Be Worried About brings 150 of the world's greatest minds together to share the one thing about the present or the future that worries each of them the most, featuring contributions from Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Martin Rees, Frank Wilczek, Arianna Huffington, Matt Ridley, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Steven Pinker, Daniel C. Dennett and moreWhat should we be worried about?This is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge. org ("The world's smartest website" –The Guardian), posed to 150 of the world brightest and most influential minds. Some of the most troubling, potentially earth-shattering problems of the future (including the effects of hyperactive media on children and the growing number of newly synthesized narcotics) are barely on the public radar. At the same time, some of our most culturally entrenched fears (like overly-sophisticatedartificial intelligence, or aggressive extra-terrestrials) can confidently be abandoned. We worry because we are built to anticipate the future. Nothing can stop us from worrying, but science can teach us how to worry better and when to stop worrying. Contributors include:Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Martin Rees, Frank Wilczek, Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, Arianna Huffington, Daniel C. Dennett, Steven Pinker and many more.