Most important observations

This is a fabulous source for keeping abreast of the important events in the world.
Edge.org
August 21, 2012
http://www.edge.org

---------------------------------------------------
THE THIRD CULTURE
---------------------------------------------------

A NEW KIND OF SOCIAL SCIENCE FOR THE  21st CENTURY
A Conversations with Nicholas Christakis
Edge Video (40-Minutes)

"These three things—a biological hurricane, computational social science, and
the rediscovery of experimentation—are going to change the social sciences in
the 21st century. With that change will come, in my judgment, a variety of
discoveries and opportunities that offer tremendous prospect for improving the
human condition.

"It's one thing to say that the way in which we study our object of inquiry,
namely humans, is undergoing profound change, as I think it is. The social
sciences are indeed changing. But the next question is: is the object of inquiry
also undergoing profound change? It's not just how we study it that's changing,
which it is. The question is: is the thing itself, our humanity, also changing?"


NICHOLAS A. CHRISTAKIS is a Physician and Social Scientist, Harvard University;
Coauthor (with James Fowler) of CONNECTED: THE SURPRISING POWER OF OUR SOCIAL
NETWORKS AND HOW THEY SHAPE OUR LIVES

Nicholas Christakis's EDGE Bio Page: http://www.edge.org/memberbio/nicholas_a_christakis

---------------------------------------------------

A NEW KIND OF SOCIAL SCIENCE FOR THE  21st CENTURY

[NICHOLAS CHRISTAKIS] "In the 20th century, there was a tremendous expectation,
or appreciation, for the role that the biological and the physical sciences
could play in improving human welfare and human affairs. We had everything from
the discovery of nuclear power to plastics to, in biology, the discovery of new
drugs, beginning with penicillin (which is one of the gigantic feats of human
ingenuity ever). We had this phenomenal progress that was made in the sciences,
in the physical and the biological sciences.

"In the 21st century, the social sciences offer equal promise for improving
human welfare. The advances that we have made and will be making, especially in
understanding human behavior and its very deep origins, will be translated into
interventions of diverse sorts that will have a much bigger impact in terms of
improving human welfare than many of the prior examples that I gave."

This new frontier in the social sciences is being abetted and even accelerated
by three things that are happening. The first is that a biological hurricane is
approaching the social sciences. Discoveries in biology are calling into
question all kinds of ideas, historically important ideas, in the social
sciences—everything from the origin of free will, to collective expression and
collective behavior, to the deep origins of basic human behaviors. All of these
things are being challenged and elevated by discoveries in biology.

[MORE...]

---------------------------------------------------
Edge Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit private operating foundation under
Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

"The World's Smartest Website", John Naughton, THE GUARDIAN
(http://bit.ly/JQYglO )
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
EDGE.ORG

John Brockman, Editor and Publisher
Russell Weinberger, Associate Publisher
Karina Knoll, Editorial Assistant

Copyright (c) 2012 by Edge Foundation, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Published by Edge Foundation, Inc.,
5 East 59th Street,
New York, NY 10022
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------