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The Last Unknowns
Featuring a foreword by DANIEL KAHNEMAN, Nobel Prize-winning author of Thinking, Fast and Slow
THIS IS A LITTLE BOOK OF PROFOUND QUESTIONS—unknowns that address the secrets of our world, our civilization, the meaning of life. Here are the deepest riddles that have fascinated, obsessed, and haunted the greatest thinkers of our time, including Nobel laureates, cosmologists, philosophers, economists, prize-winning novelists, religious scholars, and more than 250 leading scientists, artists, and theorists. In The Last Unknowns, John Brockman asks innovative thinkers: "What is ‘The Last Question,’ your last question, the question for which you will be remembered?"
Featuring the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel JARED DIAMOND • Nobel Prize-winning economist RICHARD THALER • Harvard psychologist STEVEN PINKER • religion scholar ELAINE PAGELS • author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics CARLO ROVELLI • Booker Prize–winning novelist IAN McEWAN • neuroscientist SAM HARRIS • philosopher DANIEL C. DENNETT • MIT theorist SHERRY TURKLE • decoder of the human genome J. CRAIG VENTER • Nobel Prize-winning physicist FRANK WILCZEK • New York Times columnist CARL ZIMMER • Whole Earth founder STEWART BRAND • economist TYLER COWEN • Wired founding editor KEVIN KELLY • Princeton physicist FREEMAN DYSON • musician BRIAN ENO • Duke economist DAN ARIELY • Harvard cosmologist LISA RANDALL, and more than 200 others.
352 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2019
116 people are currently reading
1918 people want to read
About the author
John Brockman
66 books613 followersJohn Brockman is an American literary agent and author specializing in scientific literature. He established the Edge Foundation, an organization that brings together leading edge thinkers across a broad range of scientific and technical fields.
He is author and editor of several books, including: The Third Culture (1995); The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2000 Years (2000); The Next Fifty Years (2002) and The New Humanists (2003).
He has the distinction of being the only person to have been profiled on Page One of the "Science Times" (1997) and the "Arts & Leisure" (1966), both supplements of The New York Times.
He is author and editor of several books, including: The Third Culture (1995); The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2000 Years (2000); The Next Fifty Years (2002) and The New Humanists (2003).
He has the distinction of being the only person to have been profiled on Page One of the "Science Times" (1997) and the "Arts & Leisure" (1966), both supplements of The New York Times.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
March 3, 2019
On Twitter, long threads develop over a question asked by one person. The responses come from a large variety of people, usually with no expertise in the subject matter. In The Last Unknowns, John Brockman asked a gaggle of mostly distinguished academics to come up with a question that had no answer. The result is one short question per page, with the questioner’s name and credentials at the top. Often, the credentials are longer than the question. It’s twitter for the accomplished.
Some work to game the system, just like on a twitter thread. Their questions are carefully crafted to be impossible or at least impossibly clever:
David Chalmers, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, asks: How can we design a machine that can correctly answer every question, including this one? (Ha ha ha)
Tyler Cowen, economic guru, asks: How far are we from wishing to return to the technologies of 1900?
Rolf Dobelli of Zurich Minds asks: Does this question exist in a parallel universe?
So academics can be fun people too. Here are some good ones:
Alun Anderson: Are people who cheat vital to driving progress in human societies?
Lisa Feldman Barrett: How does a single brain architecture create many kinds of human minds?
Andrew Barron: What would a diagram that gave a complete understanding of imagination need to be?
They can also be incomprehensible:
Amanda Gefter: Is intersubjectivity possible in a quantum mechanical universe?
And there the oldies but goldies, like: Why? and: I=we? For all their erudition, not very original I’m afraid.
The majority of the questions are in two areas: the human mind, and the cosmos. There is only one question about surviving climate change, if that says anything about the concerns of the intelligentsia. Besides academics, there are a few artists and entertainers.
I’m not sure of what use all this is. It seems to be a collection of questions to end conversations with.
David Wineberg
Some work to game the system, just like on a twitter thread. Their questions are carefully crafted to be impossible or at least impossibly clever:
David Chalmers, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, asks: How can we design a machine that can correctly answer every question, including this one? (Ha ha ha)
Tyler Cowen, economic guru, asks: How far are we from wishing to return to the technologies of 1900?
Rolf Dobelli of Zurich Minds asks: Does this question exist in a parallel universe?
So academics can be fun people too. Here are some good ones:
Alun Anderson: Are people who cheat vital to driving progress in human societies?
Lisa Feldman Barrett: How does a single brain architecture create many kinds of human minds?
Andrew Barron: What would a diagram that gave a complete understanding of imagination need to be?
They can also be incomprehensible:
Amanda Gefter: Is intersubjectivity possible in a quantum mechanical universe?
And there the oldies but goldies, like: Why? and: I=we? For all their erudition, not very original I’m afraid.
The majority of the questions are in two areas: the human mind, and the cosmos. There is only one question about surviving climate change, if that says anything about the concerns of the intelligentsia. Besides academics, there are a few artists and entertainers.
I’m not sure of what use all this is. It seems to be a collection of questions to end conversations with.
David Wineberg
March 25, 2019
For the 50th anniversary of "The World Question Center," and for the finale to the twenty years of Edge Questions, I turned it over to the Edgies:
"Ask 'The Last Question', your last question, the question for which you will be remembered."
– John Brockman, Editor, Edge
I'm not familiar with the projects going on at Edge, but as I received an ARC of The Last Unknowns, and as I'm not uninterested to discover what leading thinkers would choose as their (as yet) unanswerable questions “for which (they) will be remembered”, I was pleased to delve into its pages – and it's not quite what I was expecting. It is simply an assemblage of three hundred or so questions; one per page; often with its author's credentials taking up more space than the question itself. Many of the questions were quite intriguing, and many, to me, were not; and overall it felt like there was something missing – the history or context around why these particular questions were being posed. The idea behind the project is still useful (and I'd imagine of particular interest to those who are familiar with Edge), and I am ultimately enlarged by having now read it. (Note: I read an ARC and passages quoted might not be in their final forms.)
I've selected a few representative questions, those which I found cheeky:
David Christian (Director, Big History Institute, and Distinguished Professor in History, Macquarie University):
Will we pass our audition as planetary managers?
Rolph Dobelli (Founder, Zurich Minds):
Does this question exist in a parallel universe?
And those that I found pointless:
Laura Betzig (Anthropologist, historian):
Will we ever live together in a hive?
George Dyson (Science Historian):
Why are there no trees in the ocean?
Those that I found intriguing:
Lorraine Justice (Dean emerita and professor of industrial design, Rochester Institute of Technology):
What might the last fully biological human's statement be at their last supper?
Barnaby Marsh (Evolutionary dynamics scholar, Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University):
How much of what we call “reality” is ultimately grounded and instantiated in convincing communication and storytelling?
And those that I found too arcane for me to contemplate:
Bart Kosko (Information scientist and professor of electrical engineering and law, University of Southern California):
What is the bumpiest and highest-dimensional cost surface that our best computers will be able to search and still find the deepest cost well?
Alexander Wissner-Gross (Scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, investor):
Can general-purpose computers be constructed out of pure gravity?
There were several repetitions of theme throughout the questions – how can science be better communicated, how can science (or more specifically, AI) create a more just society, what are the limits of human knowledge – but I think the following was my favourite question; not only the most interesting to contemplate, but the best fit for the brief:
Max Tegmark (Physicist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; researcher, Precision Cosmology; scientific director, Foundational Questions Institute; president, Future of Life Institute):
What will be the literally last question that will preoccupy future superintelligent cosmic life for as long as the laws of physics permit?
I enjoyed my time with this book – though to be fair: it took me longer to review than to read – and I think it's a useful springboard to look into the work of those thinkers who most intrigued me.
August 27, 2024
Ok, so here is a wee cautionary tale about impulse selecting books and I guess not judging a book by its TITLE.
Thankfully it was a library loan so no financial harm to myself done, but I DID NOT realize this book was effectively just a long list of meaningful quotes/questions (literally one question per double page).
Don't get me wrong, its an interesting collection, some of the questions are really insightful and though provoking and some are, uh well "why aren't there trees underwater?" which unless I'm insufferably stupid I'm pretty sure we actually know the answer to that (e.g. seaweeds are more adaptive species than trees... I assume that the physiology of trees would actually have to be quite different to thrive underwater). Then there are more philosophical ones like "how will we know when we reach peak global happiness?"
Anyways the point is always have a wee peek at a book before you grab it. I was really expecting more of a non-fiction thesis on things that we don't know - not a listicle of the questions that keep the smartest people on the planet up at night (actually that sounds waaay better than this actually was) sorry sorry its FINE - obviously its a quick read and I'm actually behind on my Goodreads count so what am I complaining about...
If you want to read a long list of insightful questions (and no answers) - this is the book for you.
Thankfully it was a library loan so no financial harm to myself done, but I DID NOT realize this book was effectively just a long list of meaningful quotes/questions (literally one question per double page).
Don't get me wrong, its an interesting collection, some of the questions are really insightful and though provoking and some are, uh well "why aren't there trees underwater?" which unless I'm insufferably stupid I'm pretty sure we actually know the answer to that (e.g. seaweeds are more adaptive species than trees... I assume that the physiology of trees would actually have to be quite different to thrive underwater). Then there are more philosophical ones like "how will we know when we reach peak global happiness?"
Anyways the point is always have a wee peek at a book before you grab it. I was really expecting more of a non-fiction thesis on things that we don't know - not a listicle of the questions that keep the smartest people on the planet up at night (actually that sounds waaay better than this actually was) sorry sorry its FINE - obviously its a quick read and I'm actually behind on my Goodreads count so what am I complaining about...
If you want to read a long list of insightful questions (and no answers) - this is the book for you.
July 6, 2019
سأبدأ مراجعتي لهذا الكتاب، بنقدٍ بديع من ابني خالد، إذ كنت أحدّثه عن الكتاب وعنوانه، فقال لي أنّ العنوان تنقصه كلمة. إذ يجب أن يكون، بحسب رأي خالد:
The last known unknowns
وهذا حقّ! فآخر المجهولات التي نتحدث عنها، هي ما نعلم أننا نجهله، لكنّ ذلك المجهول المعروف ليس إلا نقطة في بحر المجهول الذي نجهل أننا نجهله (الجهل المركّب).
وإن كان سؤال بروكمان للعلماء عن "السؤال الأخير الذي يُحبّ أحدهم أن يُذكر به"؛ سؤالاً تحفيزيًا يقع على حدود "المجهول المجهول"، إلا أنّ الإجابات في غالبها مضت في صياغة أسئلة حاضرة (المجهول المعروف)، وبعضها كان ساذجًا لدرجة الحديث عن مفاهيم إشكالية تتنوع الآراء فيها. غير أنّ إجاباتٍ أخرى جاءت بأسئلةٍ ذكية وفلسفية تستحقّ النظر والتأمّل، وتستحث العقل على التفكير خارج الصندوق الزمني، والمعطيات الافتراضية الحالية.
جاءت الإجابات على شكل أسئلة قصيرة جدًا (في سطر أو اثنين)، لذا كان الكتاب صغيرًا . واحتاج بعضها لشرحٍ أو مقدّماتٍ غابت بسبب ما يفترضه السؤال من اقتضاب في الإجابة.
تظلّ الأسئلة دومًا أجمل ما في تاريخ الفكر، وآية إبداع الإنسان، وسرّ تقدّم البشر، وتظلّ الدليل على أن (فوق كلّ ذي علمٍ عليم).
The last known unknowns
وهذا حقّ! فآخر المجهولات التي نتحدث عنها، هي ما نعلم أننا نجهله، لكنّ ذلك المجهول المعروف ليس إلا نقطة في بحر المجهول الذي نجهل أننا نجهله (الجهل المركّب).
وإن كان سؤال بروكمان للعلماء عن "السؤال الأخير الذي يُحبّ أحدهم أن يُذكر به"؛ سؤالاً تحفيزيًا يقع على حدود "المجهول المجهول"، إلا أنّ الإجابات في غالبها مضت في صياغة أسئلة حاضرة (المجهول المعروف)، وبعضها كان ساذجًا لدرجة الحديث عن مفاهيم إشكالية تتنوع الآراء فيها. غير أنّ إجاباتٍ أخرى جاءت بأسئلةٍ ذكية وفلسفية تستحقّ النظر والتأمّل، وتستحث العقل على التفكير خارج الصندوق الزمني، والمعطيات الافتراضية الحالية.
جاءت الإجابات على شكل أسئلة قصيرة جدًا (في سطر أو اثنين)، لذا كان الكتاب صغيرًا . واحتاج بعضها لشرحٍ أو مقدّماتٍ غابت بسبب ما يفترضه السؤال من اقتضاب في الإجابة.
تظلّ الأسئلة دومًا أجمل ما في تاريخ الفكر، وآية إبداع الإنسان، وسرّ تقدّم البشر، وتظلّ الدليل على أن (فوق كلّ ذي علمٍ عليم).
August 18, 2019
An interesting idea, and there were a few questions that gave me pause for thought, but not quite as good as some of the others in this long-running series of essays (by many thinkers on the same question each year), which now comes to a close. What will replace it? We are told there will be something, but it will be different.
June 30, 2019
I received this uncorrected proof through Goodreads. It’s a book of questions, by experts in various fields... they run the gambit from just plain cheeky to so deep in their field as to be over anyone else’s head, but the majority are thought provoking and interesting and I enjoyed the reading experience.
January 14, 2022
On the news yesterday was the permanent closure of three branches of one of the more popular bookstores in the Philippines, Fully Booked. I like to think they had gone bankrupt because I do not buy my books there, ha ha.
I bought this copy in another branch, that one in SM Megamall. I saw it wrapped in plastic. The title was intriguing and so was the subtitle: “Deep, Elegant, Profound UNANSWERED QUESTIONS About the Universe, the Mind, the Future of Civilisation, and the Meaning of Life.” I then purchased it without freeing it first from its plastic wrap and peeking inside the pages. When I got home I instantly regretted buying it. It wasn’t worth the price for it only has the questions, all questions without answers. A failure of reading comprehension. I thought the subtitle suggests that the hitherto unanswered questions are presented and the answers to them are here finally. Boy, I was wrong.
Anyway, many of these questions raised by these supposedly “smartest people on the planet” are quite thought-provoking. Even if you are flummoxed by many of them, at least you get to know what these people are wondering about. Jonathan Gottschall (distinguished fellow, Department of English, Washington & Jefferson College and author of ‘The Storytelling Animal’), for example, asks:
“ARE STORIES BAD FOR US?”
and I thought: yes, stories may be bad for us like, for example, myths that imprison us emotionally and intellectually.
Astrophysicist and Professor of Physics Brian G. Keating (University of California and author of ‘Losing the Nobel Prize’), on the other hand, asks:
“IS THERE ANY OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE THAT COULD SHAKE YOUR FAITH, OF LACK THEREOF?”
Faith, to me, however appears to be blind to evidence. Take the example of someone who believes that he wakes up in the morning because God made/allowed him to wake up and then posts at Facebook: “God, thank you for waking me up and giving me another day, amen!” You may present all sorts of evidence that he woke up because that’s what healthy human beings do after they’ve done sleeping, but he will never budge from his belief that he woke up because of Divine Providence…. On the other hand, if evidence shakes your lack of faith that would not lead you to faith because evidence leads to KNOWLEDGE, not faith.
“WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO RELIGION ON EARTH WHEN THE FIRST ALIEN LIFE FORM IS FOUND?”
That one is the question of Kai Krause, software pioneer, philosopher and author of ‘A Realtime Literature Explorer’. I would suppose some religions would lose adherents although if we go by history, many of them will adjust to science again. They’ll probably manage to come up with novel reinterpretations of some obscure passages in their holy books to make them say that everything had actually been foretold and that having intelligent creatures in Planet X in the Andromeda Galaxy is not inconsistent with, or even PROVES, the truth of their dogmas. But:
“WHY ARE PEOPLE SO SELDOM PERSUADED BY CLEAR EVIDENCE AND RATIONAL ARGUMENT?’
asks Tim Maudlin, professor of philosophy, New York University. My opinion is that it is because clear evidence and rational argument often make people uncomfortable especially if they go against their preconceived notions. This is related to another question here, by science writer and author of ‘Monsters’ Ed Regis:
“WHY ARE REASON, SCIENCE, AND EVIDENCE SO IMPOTENT AGAINST SUPERSTITION, RELIGION, AND DOGMA?”
My take: it is obviously because reason, science and evidence come to a person (and even just to some people) only during adulthood or early adulthood; while superstition, religion and dogma are forcefully drummed into their heads in childhood. The fruits of childhood indoctrination, in other words.
Paleoanthropologist and author of ‘Lone Survivors’ Christopher Stringer has this to ask:
“CAN WE EVER WEAN HUMANS OFF THEIR ADDICTION TO RELIGION?”
I suppose so if we can do the reverse: teach young kids science first then when they become teenagers expose them to the teaching of all kinds of religions (not just your own). Let them decide, when their minds are more mature, if they want to have a religion and which would it be. And, my final choice:
“HOW MUCH WOULD SURRENDERING OUR GOD(S) STRENGTHEN THE ODDS OF OUR SURVIVAL?” (Tim White, Paleoanthropologist, professor of integrative biology, University of California, Berkeley)
I find this most difficult to answer but I like what it hints: that keeping our god(s) contributes to the realisation of our impending doom.
I bought this copy in another branch, that one in SM Megamall. I saw it wrapped in plastic. The title was intriguing and so was the subtitle: “Deep, Elegant, Profound UNANSWERED QUESTIONS About the Universe, the Mind, the Future of Civilisation, and the Meaning of Life.” I then purchased it without freeing it first from its plastic wrap and peeking inside the pages. When I got home I instantly regretted buying it. It wasn’t worth the price for it only has the questions, all questions without answers. A failure of reading comprehension. I thought the subtitle suggests that the hitherto unanswered questions are presented and the answers to them are here finally. Boy, I was wrong.
Anyway, many of these questions raised by these supposedly “smartest people on the planet” are quite thought-provoking. Even if you are flummoxed by many of them, at least you get to know what these people are wondering about. Jonathan Gottschall (distinguished fellow, Department of English, Washington & Jefferson College and author of ‘The Storytelling Animal’), for example, asks:
“ARE STORIES BAD FOR US?”
and I thought: yes, stories may be bad for us like, for example, myths that imprison us emotionally and intellectually.
Astrophysicist and Professor of Physics Brian G. Keating (University of California and author of ‘Losing the Nobel Prize’), on the other hand, asks:
“IS THERE ANY OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE THAT COULD SHAKE YOUR FAITH, OF LACK THEREOF?”
Faith, to me, however appears to be blind to evidence. Take the example of someone who believes that he wakes up in the morning because God made/allowed him to wake up and then posts at Facebook: “God, thank you for waking me up and giving me another day, amen!” You may present all sorts of evidence that he woke up because that’s what healthy human beings do after they’ve done sleeping, but he will never budge from his belief that he woke up because of Divine Providence…. On the other hand, if evidence shakes your lack of faith that would not lead you to faith because evidence leads to KNOWLEDGE, not faith.
“WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO RELIGION ON EARTH WHEN THE FIRST ALIEN LIFE FORM IS FOUND?”
That one is the question of Kai Krause, software pioneer, philosopher and author of ‘A Realtime Literature Explorer’. I would suppose some religions would lose adherents although if we go by history, many of them will adjust to science again. They’ll probably manage to come up with novel reinterpretations of some obscure passages in their holy books to make them say that everything had actually been foretold and that having intelligent creatures in Planet X in the Andromeda Galaxy is not inconsistent with, or even PROVES, the truth of their dogmas. But:
“WHY ARE PEOPLE SO SELDOM PERSUADED BY CLEAR EVIDENCE AND RATIONAL ARGUMENT?’
asks Tim Maudlin, professor of philosophy, New York University. My opinion is that it is because clear evidence and rational argument often make people uncomfortable especially if they go against their preconceived notions. This is related to another question here, by science writer and author of ‘Monsters’ Ed Regis:
“WHY ARE REASON, SCIENCE, AND EVIDENCE SO IMPOTENT AGAINST SUPERSTITION, RELIGION, AND DOGMA?”
My take: it is obviously because reason, science and evidence come to a person (and even just to some people) only during adulthood or early adulthood; while superstition, religion and dogma are forcefully drummed into their heads in childhood. The fruits of childhood indoctrination, in other words.
Paleoanthropologist and author of ‘Lone Survivors’ Christopher Stringer has this to ask:
“CAN WE EVER WEAN HUMANS OFF THEIR ADDICTION TO RELIGION?”
I suppose so if we can do the reverse: teach young kids science first then when they become teenagers expose them to the teaching of all kinds of religions (not just your own). Let them decide, when their minds are more mature, if they want to have a religion and which would it be. And, my final choice:
“HOW MUCH WOULD SURRENDERING OUR GOD(S) STRENGTHEN THE ODDS OF OUR SURVIVAL?” (Tim White, Paleoanthropologist, professor of integrative biology, University of California, Berkeley)
I find this most difficult to answer but I like what it hints: that keeping our god(s) contributes to the realisation of our impending doom.
May 21, 2019
What an insanely thought provoking book.
I received this through a giveaway on goodreads and I am so glad that I did. Every single "last question" listed is impactful, enlightening, and encourages the reader to reflect on not only how they would answer, but what their lat question would be.
I am very thankful I won this book, and am going to recommend it to all my friends.
It'll be a quick read, but will have a lasting impression on you.
I received this through a giveaway on goodreads and I am so glad that I did. Every single "last question" listed is impactful, enlightening, and encourages the reader to reflect on not only how they would answer, but what their lat question would be.
I am very thankful I won this book, and am going to recommend it to all my friends.
It'll be a quick read, but will have a lasting impression on you.
April 21, 2019
3.5 ⭐️ So. I received this as an ARC. The questions posed in this book are pretty deep. Some I got, and have actually thought about before, and some were so far over my head I’m surprised my brain didn’t explode while I tried to wrap my little mind around them. Definitely interesting, and one I will recommend to customers looking for something unique for the thinkers in their lives.
September 10, 2019
Stumbled across this curious little book at the library and was intrigued by the premise of an entire book of questions. No answers. Just questions.
There are a lot of smart people out there thinking about a lot of really deep things but it seems like most of them are worried about the merging of humans and technology and what that means for the future.
There are a lot of smart people out there thinking about a lot of really deep things but it seems like most of them are worried about the merging of humans and technology and what that means for the future.
May 31, 2019
This book is very cerebral and I loved it for that .....It really exercised my grey matter ....I'll be using it for an intellectual workout again in the future and will be utilizing some of the very profound questions in conversations with others who enjoy engaging their brain cells in philosophical activity. Kudos to Mr.Brockman for organizing such a wide array of genius and for having the genius idea to do so to begin with ,I feel smarter already for reading this compilation of brilliance .
October 26, 2020
I'm quite angry. When I bought this initially, I had thought it was a collection of essays answering or, at least, debating and theorizing on certain questions. Now, imagine my *shock*™️ as I opened the book and saw it contained *just the questions* 0_0.
I'm not saying some of these aren't thought-provoking, but wasting trees on something that could have easily been published as an ebook.... not an outstanding move, my friends.
I'm not saying some of these aren't thought-provoking, but wasting trees on something that could have easily been published as an ebook.... not an outstanding move, my friends.
May 24, 2019
Short and sweet book of contemporary curiosities. You could read the entire book in one setting (I did). Ejecting The Last Unknowns from your mind after finishing it would be like reading a samurai's death poem without the context. Or famous last words in general. "Good dog," loses intensity without knowing who said it and why.
The Last Unknowns is meant to ponder the unforeseen future through the wonder of scientists, artists, and other imaginative souls. And it is set to be like their last words, the lone question they would have if they were to die. What makes the premise intriguing is how little we know about many of these "final questions." It's a humbling reminder that we are learning creatures who have much to dream about the world, even if it may not always be within our control. Thankfully, none of the questions of current unknowns were obvious ones like, "When will we cure cancer?" "Does God exist?" They were directed to be limitless in their interpretations and beg the mind to explore.
Yet I wonder if a handful of these questions could be answered within another generation or so rather than the far-flung future. Like artificial intelligence's potential legal rights, the revival of the Riemann Hypothesis, and whether reading and writing comprehension will still be necessary with society's growing reliance on video and audio sources. Then there are the ones that I feel edge towards the subjective, which didn't engage me as much as the others.
They're terrific openers for thought-provoking discussions, too. I had a brief chat about one of these questions with a friend and saw another side of them that I didn't know before. Sounds wild, right? If talking isn't your thing, here's hoping those grey cells in your head will get a jolt and consider beyond "the ordinary." Those are always fun experiences to have.
I received the book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
The Last Unknowns is meant to ponder the unforeseen future through the wonder of scientists, artists, and other imaginative souls. And it is set to be like their last words, the lone question they would have if they were to die. What makes the premise intriguing is how little we know about many of these "final questions." It's a humbling reminder that we are learning creatures who have much to dream about the world, even if it may not always be within our control. Thankfully, none of the questions of current unknowns were obvious ones like, "When will we cure cancer?" "Does God exist?" They were directed to be limitless in their interpretations and beg the mind to explore.
Yet I wonder if a handful of these questions could be answered within another generation or so rather than the far-flung future. Like artificial intelligence's potential legal rights, the revival of the Riemann Hypothesis, and whether reading and writing comprehension will still be necessary with society's growing reliance on video and audio sources. Then there are the ones that I feel edge towards the subjective, which didn't engage me as much as the others.
They're terrific openers for thought-provoking discussions, too. I had a brief chat about one of these questions with a friend and saw another side of them that I didn't know before. Sounds wild, right? If talking isn't your thing, here's hoping those grey cells in your head will get a jolt and consider beyond "the ordinary." Those are always fun experiences to have.
I received the book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
July 29, 2021
I only made it about half way through the book. I think I picked this book because the forward is written by Daniel Kahneman and I've grown to enjoy his insight. If he thought enough about the book to write the forward then I should give it a go.
It's a book of questions posed by various people ranging from scientist and academics to writers and philosophers. Each page is the question and who wrote it. My sense is that this should be that person's key question that, if answered, makes all other questions meaningless.
Kinda different. My first reaction was "Where's the book? When do these questions end? What is this Last Unknown?" Then I decided it was a bit like a poetry book so I should read a question and ponder its significance, implication, and meaning. I did that until I tired of the process as the questions diverged into areas of less interest to me.
Others might like this book better but be forewarned about the format.
It's a book of questions posed by various people ranging from scientist and academics to writers and philosophers. Each page is the question and who wrote it. My sense is that this should be that person's key question that, if answered, makes all other questions meaningless.
Kinda different. My first reaction was "Where's the book? When do these questions end? What is this Last Unknown?" Then I decided it was a bit like a poetry book so I should read a question and ponder its significance, implication, and meaning. I did that until I tired of the process as the questions diverged into areas of less interest to me.
Others might like this book better but be forewarned about the format.
January 17, 2020
Question. Do you need to read this book? No! Read back cover, and you have it 1/2 read already.
August 23, 2020
Just the questions. Fun to go through, not as good as the other Brockman/edge collections, but still good.
Read
September 22, 2020pithy musings of some of our best and brightest- and then some
May 22, 2019
This is a Goodreads win review. This book is a book of questions where great thinkers from many fields ask their last question. My favorite ones are: Why is it so hard to find the truth?, When will race dissappear?, Is love all you really need?, Have we left the age of reason never to return?, What is the hard limit on human longevity?, and Why are people so seldom persuaded by clear evidence and rational argument? It is a very though provoking book.
June 3, 2019
Quite boring.
April 25, 2019
Some of my favorites:
Are moral beliefs more like facts or more like preferences?
How do we create and maintain backup options for humanity to quickly rebuild an advanced civilization after a catastrophic human extinction event?
Will we ever understand how human communication is built from genes to cells to circuits to behavior?
Do the laws of physics change with the passage of time?
Can an increasingly powerful species survive (and overcome) the actions of its most extreme individuals?
How smart does another animal have to be for us to decide not to eat it?
What will happen to religion on Earth when the first alien life form is found?
How does a thought become a feeling?
What will it take to end war once and for all?
What would the mind of a child raised in total isolation of other animals be like?
What is the principle that causes complex adaptive systems (life, organisms, minds, societies) to spontaneously emerge from the interaction of simpler elements (chemicals, cells, neurons, individual humans)?
How will the advent of direct brain-to-brain communication change the way we think?
How much would surrendering our god(s) strengthen the odds of our survival? (My addition: Or, conversely, weaken them perhaps?)
How can the few pounds of grey goo between ours ears let us make utterly surprising, completely unprecedented, and remarkably true discoveries about the world around us, in every domain and at every scale, from quarks to quasars?
Can we acquire complete access to our unconscious minds?
What will courtship, mate selection, length of marriages, and family composition and networks be like when we are all living over 150 years?
Can we create new senses for humans -- not just touch, taste, vision, hearing, smell, but totally novel qualia for which we don't yet have words?
Can consciousness exist in an entity without a self-contained physical body?
Why do we experience feelings of meaning in a universe without purpose?
So, before the Singularity...?
Are moral beliefs more like facts or more like preferences?
How do we create and maintain backup options for humanity to quickly rebuild an advanced civilization after a catastrophic human extinction event?
Will we ever understand how human communication is built from genes to cells to circuits to behavior?
Do the laws of physics change with the passage of time?
Can an increasingly powerful species survive (and overcome) the actions of its most extreme individuals?
How smart does another animal have to be for us to decide not to eat it?
What will happen to religion on Earth when the first alien life form is found?
How does a thought become a feeling?
What will it take to end war once and for all?
What would the mind of a child raised in total isolation of other animals be like?
What is the principle that causes complex adaptive systems (life, organisms, minds, societies) to spontaneously emerge from the interaction of simpler elements (chemicals, cells, neurons, individual humans)?
How will the advent of direct brain-to-brain communication change the way we think?
How much would surrendering our god(s) strengthen the odds of our survival? (My addition: Or, conversely, weaken them perhaps?)
How can the few pounds of grey goo between ours ears let us make utterly surprising, completely unprecedented, and remarkably true discoveries about the world around us, in every domain and at every scale, from quarks to quasars?
Can we acquire complete access to our unconscious minds?
What will courtship, mate selection, length of marriages, and family composition and networks be like when we are all living over 150 years?
Can we create new senses for humans -- not just touch, taste, vision, hearing, smell, but totally novel qualia for which we don't yet have words?
Can consciousness exist in an entity without a self-contained physical body?
Why do we experience feelings of meaning in a universe without purpose?
So, before the Singularity...?
May 25, 2019
Each page has a unanswered question on it from someone smart...that's it. That's the book. I could have done this, maybe. This book isn't for me but perhaps my local library will want it.
April 24, 2025
It's a short book, the final of the series, with questions still unanswered. Maybe the author thought it was a nice idea, but I guess it would have been better to have the questions with a little more explanation or a proposed answer by who asked them.
Nevertheless, for me, the biggest questions that will remain unanswered are:
• Why do people need to believe in a superior, unseen power that supposedly controls their
lives?
§ Religions still are the opium of the masses. Now, some is replaced by Social Media.
• Why did those allegedly "gods" only reveal themselves once humankind started to live in communities and had a means to transmit their existence?
§ Means could be oral, written, painting, i.e., once humans had some kind of consciousness, even if we don't know what it is.
• Why aren't people, even after Marx, taking over the top 1% and their guardian dogs?
§ Briefly was done in the French Revolution and other English revolutions, but nothing more, and democracies were being taken over by the rich. No revolution, even Communism, was able to create its oligarchy.
§ Still, people support having bad/meaningless jobs.
§ Guardian dogs (i.e., poor people, even though being poor still supports the rich with the illusion that some crumbs will/are dropping) to satisfy their meaningless existence.
• Why Marx, Bourdieu, and other philosophers/sociologists are right, and people don't trust them?
I answer some of the questions presented:
• Can wild animals that are large and dangerous be made averse to threatening humans? ---> Well, we have already done it, by extinct most of them.
• Is there a fundamental difference between the biological world and the physical world? ---> Well, we're made from the same particles, and some libertarians resemble rocks…so no.
• Can we design a modern society without money that is at least as effective economically and politically as our current system? ---> Yes, it is called get rid of greedy, voracious capitalism and grow up, just need to get rid of 10 % at the top of the pyramid and the bottom that think they are wealthy but are just the dog's mansion guardians.
• If science does confirm that we lack free will, what are the implications for our notions of blame, punishment, reward, and moral responsibility? ---> First Thing: get rid of religions and start calling for what they truly are, "For-profit corporations"
• Is our brain fundamentally limited in its ability to understand the external world? ---> Given the current state of politics in some countries and what has happened since Marx accurately described capitalism, yes. People are stupid.
• If we discover another intelligent civilization, what should we ask them? ---> How can we get rid of Trump and his kind once, for good and forever?
• Why is religion still around in the twenty-first century? ---> I have the same question, my best answer is that people to run away from misery on one side and control de masses on the other side need to believe in a superior being that knows and controls everything with a hidden purpose of some future "good". Meanwhile, the group in the middle, religious, lives without working or contributing to society under a cloak of piety, benevolence, and charity.
Did you like Francis's gestures of poverty? He could afford that luxury because he would always have free shelter, food, and clothing with your tithe. The truly poor, not those who pretend to the religious, have no escape. It's not their fault, but the system that won't let them out. Read Marx, Bourdieu, and others. The poor are trapped. The religious give themselves the luxury of feigning poverty to get their tithe. Don't be fooled.
• Why are reason, science, and evidence so impotent against superstition, religion, and dogma? ---> Greedy, Capitalism, Easy Mass Control. In the past, the elite controlled the masses using religion, and allegedly that their power was given by superior beings, and their lives were controlled by them. After that we science started to prove that the world around us can be explained; they use Capitalism/Communism to control the masses. Now they use social media/fake news, and when that doesn't work, repression. The question is which will be the next method to control the masses, for they do not rebel like Marx and others suggested.
• Was agriculture a wrong turn for civilization? ----> The short answer is yes, it rises to religion, elites, and ultimately to greedy, voracious capitalism. Though, wasn't a choice since humankind had already started to extinguish the rest of the living creatures, so gathering and hunting wasn't an option anymore.
• Why do some people act inside the law and others outside, and others create the law? ---> The elite create to control the masses(inside), and most of the outside the law are the same that creates them, and the minority are part of the masses that the elite put outside because either expel them or can't control them.
• Why is it so difficult to influence people’s belief systems for deeply held beliefs, and so easy to manipulate belief systems when little is known about the subject? ---> That's a great question. I think that is because people are comfortable with not using their brains to think beyond their noses, and easy to accept the world as it is, despite that it may be eating them alive. The law of the minimum effort, or the law that any system tends to the minimum energy state. Changing something that perhaps was taught when we were kids, such as an effort that most aren't willing to do, is easier to avoid the subject since it requires energy.
• Can we ever wean humans off their addiction to religion? ---> No, 1) Since people to avoid their misery need to believe that something controls their lives, has a purpose, and any drawback will be compensated in the future(either in another life, or in this life somehow). 2) Is an very well-known way to control masses, it has been proven for at least 5,000 years and still working 3) Meanwhile there will be people that under a cloak of piety, benevolence and charity lives from the tithe and alms from others living without working contributing with nothing valuable to society but a bag of lies and people believes in them, it won’t be possible.
Nevertheless, for me, the biggest questions that will remain unanswered are:
• Why do people need to believe in a superior, unseen power that supposedly controls their
lives?
§ Religions still are the opium of the masses. Now, some is replaced by Social Media.
• Why did those allegedly "gods" only reveal themselves once humankind started to live in communities and had a means to transmit their existence?
§ Means could be oral, written, painting, i.e., once humans had some kind of consciousness, even if we don't know what it is.
• Why aren't people, even after Marx, taking over the top 1% and their guardian dogs?
§ Briefly was done in the French Revolution and other English revolutions, but nothing more, and democracies were being taken over by the rich. No revolution, even Communism, was able to create its oligarchy.
§ Still, people support having bad/meaningless jobs.
§ Guardian dogs (i.e., poor people, even though being poor still supports the rich with the illusion that some crumbs will/are dropping) to satisfy their meaningless existence.
• Why Marx, Bourdieu, and other philosophers/sociologists are right, and people don't trust them?
I answer some of the questions presented:
• Can wild animals that are large and dangerous be made averse to threatening humans? ---> Well, we have already done it, by extinct most of them.
• Is there a fundamental difference between the biological world and the physical world? ---> Well, we're made from the same particles, and some libertarians resemble rocks…so no.
• Can we design a modern society without money that is at least as effective economically and politically as our current system? ---> Yes, it is called get rid of greedy, voracious capitalism and grow up, just need to get rid of 10 % at the top of the pyramid and the bottom that think they are wealthy but are just the dog's mansion guardians.
• If science does confirm that we lack free will, what are the implications for our notions of blame, punishment, reward, and moral responsibility? ---> First Thing: get rid of religions and start calling for what they truly are, "For-profit corporations"
• Is our brain fundamentally limited in its ability to understand the external world? ---> Given the current state of politics in some countries and what has happened since Marx accurately described capitalism, yes. People are stupid.
• If we discover another intelligent civilization, what should we ask them? ---> How can we get rid of Trump and his kind once, for good and forever?
• Why is religion still around in the twenty-first century? ---> I have the same question, my best answer is that people to run away from misery on one side and control de masses on the other side need to believe in a superior being that knows and controls everything with a hidden purpose of some future "good". Meanwhile, the group in the middle, religious, lives without working or contributing to society under a cloak of piety, benevolence, and charity.
Did you like Francis's gestures of poverty? He could afford that luxury because he would always have free shelter, food, and clothing with your tithe. The truly poor, not those who pretend to the religious, have no escape. It's not their fault, but the system that won't let them out. Read Marx, Bourdieu, and others. The poor are trapped. The religious give themselves the luxury of feigning poverty to get their tithe. Don't be fooled.
• Why are reason, science, and evidence so impotent against superstition, religion, and dogma? ---> Greedy, Capitalism, Easy Mass Control. In the past, the elite controlled the masses using religion, and allegedly that their power was given by superior beings, and their lives were controlled by them. After that we science started to prove that the world around us can be explained; they use Capitalism/Communism to control the masses. Now they use social media/fake news, and when that doesn't work, repression. The question is which will be the next method to control the masses, for they do not rebel like Marx and others suggested.
• Was agriculture a wrong turn for civilization? ----> The short answer is yes, it rises to religion, elites, and ultimately to greedy, voracious capitalism. Though, wasn't a choice since humankind had already started to extinguish the rest of the living creatures, so gathering and hunting wasn't an option anymore.
• Why do some people act inside the law and others outside, and others create the law? ---> The elite create to control the masses(inside), and most of the outside the law are the same that creates them, and the minority are part of the masses that the elite put outside because either expel them or can't control them.
• Why is it so difficult to influence people’s belief systems for deeply held beliefs, and so easy to manipulate belief systems when little is known about the subject? ---> That's a great question. I think that is because people are comfortable with not using their brains to think beyond their noses, and easy to accept the world as it is, despite that it may be eating them alive. The law of the minimum effort, or the law that any system tends to the minimum energy state. Changing something that perhaps was taught when we were kids, such as an effort that most aren't willing to do, is easier to avoid the subject since it requires energy.
• Can we ever wean humans off their addiction to religion? ---> No, 1) Since people to avoid their misery need to believe that something controls their lives, has a purpose, and any drawback will be compensated in the future(either in another life, or in this life somehow). 2) Is an very well-known way to control masses, it has been proven for at least 5,000 years and still working 3) Meanwhile there will be people that under a cloak of piety, benevolence and charity lives from the tithe and alms from others living without working contributing with nothing valuable to society but a bag of lies and people believes in them, it won’t be possible.
September 20, 2019
Bought this for a plane ride- for some reason, I thought this was a collections of essays. It isn't. It is, however, a cool collection of thought-provoking, conversation-starting questions from smart people.
September 11, 2019
This collection of about 250 ultimate questions from the same number of world-class thinkers from a variety of professions is of course a potent barrage of brain fluid. Some questions are perennial, some completely new to me. Some seem to have obvious answers, which probably means I didn’t understand them. Some seem trivial or inherently unanswerable, which ditto. Most ignite a train of thought that takes you to new places. Each one invites contemplation of the question, its assumptions and implications, and its possible answers. All great stuff.
I’m trying not to feel disappointed. Each question of one sentence is accompanied by a brief résumé of the author. Those, say, 25 words in a large typeface take up a page or two. The entire 300-plus-page book could have been condensed down to perhaps 35 pages of normal type and spacing. Would it be too much to wonder if each questioner could have been asked to add a paragraph or two about the question—what spawned it, possible leads to its answer, wrong answers from the past, etc.? A worthwhile book nevertheless.
I’m trying not to feel disappointed. Each question of one sentence is accompanied by a brief résumé of the author. Those, say, 25 words in a large typeface take up a page or two. The entire 300-plus-page book could have been condensed down to perhaps 35 pages of normal type and spacing. Would it be too much to wonder if each questioner could have been asked to add a paragraph or two about the question—what spawned it, possible leads to its answer, wrong answers from the past, etc.? A worthwhile book nevertheless.
June 26, 2019
At first I was disappointed to see that the book was just an accumulation of questions, instead of insightful 1 or 2-pager thoughts from the greatest minds alive.
Then, I reallized that:
* Those questions are mostly as insightful as the papers. Read them, one at a time, just like a Zen Koan, and let it sink in your brain. The more you meditate on each of these questions, the more their meaning and interest will unfold.
* This book is a huge inspiration for your GoodRead's "Want to Read" book list! I think I added at least 30 of them while reading it.
* Each of the question is the perfect format to launch discussion on your social networks (providing you have curious, open-minded, science lover friends. Just pick one of the question, publish it on your Facebook wall, and see what happens.
Can't wait to see on which form Edge will reappear next year!
Then, I reallized that:
* Those questions are mostly as insightful as the papers. Read them, one at a time, just like a Zen Koan, and let it sink in your brain. The more you meditate on each of these questions, the more their meaning and interest will unfold.
* This book is a huge inspiration for your GoodRead's "Want to Read" book list! I think I added at least 30 of them while reading it.
* Each of the question is the perfect format to launch discussion on your social networks (providing you have curious, open-minded, science lover friends. Just pick one of the question, publish it on your Facebook wall, and see what happens.
Can't wait to see on which form Edge will reappear next year!
December 8, 2019
This little 325pg collection of questions posed, at the editors request, by philosophers, novelists, biologists, physicists, information-entrepreneurs, etc. is a treasure-trove into which to delve for ideas for what one want to seek out to read.
I did a quick go-through after I'd read all of the questions just to see... of the 280 or so individuals who submitted questions, I've read books by at least 14, have signed copies representative works by two of them (and also met a third), and have perused the blogs to which 3 other either maintain themselves or contribute to.
A quick read, but I stretched it out over several weeks.
Disclaimer: I receive my copy of this via a give-away on Goodreads.com
I did a quick go-through after I'd read all of the questions just to see... of the 280 or so individuals who submitted questions, I've read books by at least 14, have signed copies representative works by two of them (and also met a third), and have perused the blogs to which 3 other either maintain themselves or contribute to.
A quick read, but I stretched it out over several weeks.
Disclaimer: I receive my copy of this via a give-away on Goodreads.com
May 30, 2019
A book of 332 pages of just questions? Why?
John Brockman has presented the reader with very thought provoking questions, in his book The LAST UNKNOWNS. A great way to motivate conversations, or ponder life. The LAST UNKNOWNS has started many good after dinner conversation between our family. Drawing insights to each others thoughts and beliefs.
This would be a great teachers book for starting a composition, debate, or a value study of society. It is not a book to just read, but a book to be used as a tool.
John Brockman has presented the reader with very thought provoking questions, in his book The LAST UNKNOWNS. A great way to motivate conversations, or ponder life. The LAST UNKNOWNS has started many good after dinner conversation between our family. Drawing insights to each others thoughts and beliefs.
This would be a great teachers book for starting a composition, debate, or a value study of society. It is not a book to just read, but a book to be used as a tool.
June 20, 2019
Ah. I joined goodreads today to rate this book. As a fan of the series, I preordered this book and have been eagerly camping out awaiting it's delivery. What a tremendous abdication of responsibility. John Brockman you can laugh through your years and your dollars, but my last unknown is do I recycle this book, test its combustabilty or shred it and line the beds of my chickens?
September 12, 2019
This book would have been infinitely more interesting if there was a short explanation of the importance and significance of each question to accompany each question. Some of the questions are interesting in and of themselves, but the majority of these questions only make sense if you have a grounding knowledge of the relevant fields to begin with.
April 10, 2022
This is the fastest I’ve ever finished a book. It was literally a book of questions, with one question per page. And without any analysis or attempts at answers. It was interesting in that it spurred my mind to start asking questions. I wouldn’t classify it as a bad book, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting.
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