This Will Change Everything: Ideas That Will Shape the Future

Editor John Brockman continues in the same vein as his popular compilations What Are You Optimistic About and What Have You Changed Your Mind About with This Will Change Everything. Brockman asks 150 intellectual superstars “what game-changing scientific ideas and developments do you expect to live to see?” Their fascinating responses are collected here, from bestselling author of Atonement Ian McEwan to Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek to electronic music pioneer Brian Eno to writer, actor, director, and activist Alan Alda.

This essential collection of short, powerful essays tackles the biggest questions about our future, including:

• Artificial Intelligence & Superintelligence: When will machines outthink us, and what happens when they do? Leading minds weigh in on the coming robotic moment and the dawn of superintelligence.
• Genomics & Synthetic Biology: Pioneers like J. Craig Venter and Richard Dawkins discuss rewriting the code of life, downloading consciousness into computers, and breaking the species barrier.
• Decoding the Brain: Will we soon read minds, control brain plasticity, or achieve radiotelepathy? Explore the next revolutions in neuroscience and human consciousness.
• Climate Change & Cosmology: From the mastery of climate to the existence of other universes, leading physicists and climatologists map out the future of our planet and the cosmos.