Guest Thinkers — December 13, 2010

Human Extinction Not So Bad

If we continue on our current path of unbridled consumerism and environmental destruction, the most likely future scenario is one in which the quality of human lives is relatively low.

bigthinkeditor

I think we can safely make two predictions: our species will have a markedly different array of traits in a few hundred years and we will be living in a vastly different environment. This has important implications for our evolution. With a different array of traits and a different fitness landscape, we can’t predict which traits will be most advantageous. Of all of the species that have existed on the planet, only one has ever evolved the sort of intelligence and morality that distinguishes humans. It’s exceedingly rare that high intelligence arises through natural selection. It’s not safe to assume that either intelligence or morality will continue to be selected if our conditions change dramatically.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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