Each year, Edge Foundation founder John Brockman poses an interesting question to thinkers in a wide range of fields: psychology, theoretical physics, evolution, cognitive science, and more. This year’s question was “What scientific idea is ready for retirement?” And here are some of the answers.
Jesse Dylan put together this video, featuring answers from Jerry Coyne, Daniel C. Dennett, George Dyson, David Gelernter, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Alison Gopnik, Kevin Kelly, Alex Pentland, Irene Pepperberg, Steven Pinker, Lee Smolin, Paul Steinhardt, and Frank Wilczek. Brockman also collects the answers to his Edge Foundation questions in an annual book. This year’s book,
This Idea Must Die: Scientific Theories That Are Blocking Progress, will be available in February 2015.
The folks in this video come up with a variety of answers, and they don’t all agree, but it’s interesting to hear what outdated or misunderstood ideas these individuals want to see retired for the sake of moving forward.
[via
Boing Boing]
