the Evil Line

The 2007 Edge question is up: What are you optimistic about? Why?

I paid a fair bit of attention to the Edge question last year, so it's been interesting to compare answers from the two years. For instance, regardless of the question, the answer seems to be "Religion is bad and science will replace it" for Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Andrew Brown. Fair enough, but doesn't saying the same thing over and over get boring? I feel like they could have written their responses before hearing the question. To his credit, Sam Harris says something at least a little different this time around.

Some of the pieces really do address the question, and offer real optimism: Steven Pinker, Esther Dyson, and Geoffrey Carr, all of whose responses I really liked. On the other hand, Susan Blackmore doesn't seem to understand what optimism is.

I have to point out the mathematicians, Keith Devlin who says 3D graphics will revolutionize math education (I think he's wrong, unfortunately), and Steven Strogatz, who talks about sleep. His response is the kind I like, focused on a small but interesting area, not feeling the need to speak grandly about all of civilization and society.