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):Those that I found intriguing:
Why are there no trees in the ocean?
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):And those that I found too arcane for me to contemplate:
How much of what we call “reality” is ultimately grounded and instantiated in convincing communication and storytelling?
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):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:
Can general-purpose computers be constructed out of pure gravity?
Max Tegmark (Physicist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; researcher, Precision Cosmology; scientific director, Foundational Questions Institute; president, Future of Life Institute):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.
What will be the literally last question that will preoccupy future superintelligent cosmic life for as long as the laws of physics permit?
