It’s the ‘nightmare scenario’ for some. But for Sabine Hossenfelder, it might be a dream come true. This article was authored by Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine is a theoretical physicist specialized in […]
Oops! That page can’t be found.
It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search?
Were you looking for something like this?
The origin of life is one of the biggest open questions. Could it all have started before our planet was even born? “When you arise in the morning, think of […]
The best-kept secret in music festivals and the six great new bands I found. “Life is a festival only to the wise.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson Every weekend, I try to […]
If String Theory has nothing to do with reality, what are our options? “I just think too many nice things have happened in string theory for it to be all […]
Why “letting there be light” in the Universe isn’t enough. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” –Marcus Aurelius I want you […]
And if not, how do you reason with those who believe they are? “Ignorance is hardly unusual, Miss Davar. The longer I live, the more I come to realize that […]
Is there a way to see past the barrier the Universe puts up before it became transparent to light? Image credit: Mark Kamionkowski, of gravitational waves. “From earliest times, humans — explorers […]
There have been many supernovae in the Milky Way seen over the past 2,000 years, but nobody ever saw the most recent ones! Image credit: NASA/CXC/NCSU/K.Borkowski et al. “When I […]
And what they mean for humans here on Earth. “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” –Alexander […]
Why the kind of knowledge you get by asking the Universe questions about itself is the most valuable type of knowledge there is. “I’m also uncomfortable with dogmatic believers; to my […]
If stars, planets, and biological processes are so common in the Universe, then where is everyone? “If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens… Where Is Everybody?”–Stephen Webb As egocentric as […]
Editor’s Note: Please welcome Korey Peters, who’s written a guest post about an atheist organization he’s founded that he’s calling the Calgary Secular Church. In this post, he’ll explain what […]
One of the interesting developments in the Asian start-up scene over the last year has been the invasion of Western venture capital firms. Someone has obviously predicted that Asian tech […]
A new meme is emerging in the blogosphere: Obama as the “imperial president.” From the left, Tom Egelhardt claims Obama “has the powers previously associated with the gods” while Steve […]
Kickstarter is a site that allows anyone to raise money from an online community in order to fund any sort of project. Here's a primer on how to turn your vision into a reality.
Smart phones. One can’t imagine life without them. Ah, the endless convenience: looking up a restaurant on Yelp, finding out a movie’s rating on Rotten Tomatoes, seeing that cute guy’s […]
It’s plain to see that I’m an optimist, sometimes more than is socially comfortable. The ease with which I dismiss the disastrous economic decline above serves as one example of that. I wrote that the recession will benefit our political system, and, before I cut this line, as having “rewarded our company for methodical execution and ruthless efficiency by removing competitors from the landscape.” I make no mention of the disastrous effects on millions of people, and the great uncertainty that grips any well-briefed mind, because it truly doesn’t stand in the foreground of my mind (despite suffering personal loss of wealth).
Our species is running towards a precipice with looming dangers like economic decline, political unrest, climate crisis, and more threatening to grip us as we jump off the edge, but my optimism is stronger now than ever before. On the other side of that looming gap are extraordinary breakthroughs in healthcare, communications technology, access to space, human productivity, artistic creation and literally hundreds of fields. With the right execution and a little bit of luck we’ll all live to see these breakthroughs — and members of my generation will live to see dramatically lengthened life-spans, exploration and colonization of space, and more opportunity than ever to work for passion instead of simply working for pay.
Instead of taking this space to regale you with the many personal and focused changes I intend to make in 2009, let me rather encourage you to spend time this year thinking, as I’m going to, more about what we can do in 2009 to positively affect the future our culture will face in 2020, 2050, 3000 and beyond.
Part 1 of the Q&A from Dr. Boris Behncke of the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania.