Here's a talk I gave at the Long Now Foundation about my optimistic hopes that the advent of the internet will mitigate threats that brought down previous civilizations.
This is an idea I've been working on for several years. It started as a short piece in Nature, then a short essay on Edge.org, and finally debuted as an iPad app called Why the Net Matters. For over a week this was the most watched video on fora.tv.
Think it's unlikely for a scientist to be featured on the cover of an Italian fashion magazine? Me too! But strange things happen...
Well before we understand how brains work, we may find ourselves able to digitally copy the brain's structure and able to download the conscious mind into a computer. What are the possibilities and challenges?
I have been asked in the past to list ten books that have "inspired, moved, and enlightened" me. Here's my list:
Hear actress Emily Blunt read the story "The Cast" from Sum.
Wednesday is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia has been awarded the Montaigne Medal, Eric Hoffer Award for Books.
Sum was the only book of fiction in New Scientist magazine's selection of Best Books of 2009.
David has been named a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow. He will use the fellowship opportunity to pursue the genetics and neuroimaging of synesthesia.
