John Brockman - What Should We Be Worried About?

Maxwell, James Clerk, 181–82

McEwan, William, 125–26

McLuhan, Marshall, 134

mediasphere, 462

mediologists, 462

meditation, 284

memes, 431

mental health, 83–85, 299–301, 368–69. See also psychiatric disorders

metaworry, 370–72

Metzger, Gustav, 216

Metzinger, Thomas, 440–43

Mexico, 119, 251

Michelson, Albert, 181–82

Michelson-Morley experiment, 181–82

microbiome, cancer and, 295–98

Microsoft, 42, 315

Middle Age, 210

Milgram, Stanley, 368

Mill, John Stuart, 105

Miller, Arthur, 110

mindfulness, 284

mining, 35, 69

misplaced worry, 131–33

Mitchell, Tom, 411

Mochizuki, Shinichi, 388

modern passion of worrying, 475–76

molecular control mechanisms, 24–25

money laundering, 244

“monsters from the id,” 147–49

Montaigne, Michel de, 113

MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses), 385–86, 390–93

Moore, G. E., 103

moralistic punishment, 104

morbid anxiety, 373–75

Morley, Albert, 181–82

Mormonism, 60, 62, 65

Morozov, Evgeny, 53–55

Morrison, Jim, 156

Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), 49

MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ), 201

Mueller, John, 3

multitasking, 46

music, catharsis in, 206–7

Musk, Elon, 68–69

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), 6–8

mystery of worry, 135–38

nanotechnology, 301, 448–49

narcissism, 3–4, 269–71, 278–79

National Academy of Sciences, 19

National Cancer Institute, 286–88

National Institutes of Health (NIH), 288, 297

nationalism, 235–36

National Review Online , 401

National Survey of Children’s Health, 420

naturalistic fallacy, 103–6

natural selection, 101, 103–4, 121–22, 128, 129, 138, 213, 229–32, 343–46

Naughton, John, 98–99

Neanderthals, 61, 80

negative specific heat, 160–61

Nesse, Randolph, 19–21, 101

networks, 12, 41–44. See also social media

Neumann, John von, 267

neurometrics, 284, 406–9

neuromodulation, 262–64

neurophenomenological state-classes, 442

neuroscience, 26–29, 45–47, 151, 210–12, 218, 262–64, 273–74, 410–14

neurotic versus effective worrying, 212

Newman, John Henry, 62

Newton, Isaac, 127, 160, 192, 336–39

New York Times , 139–42, 143, 144–45

Nigeria, 63–64

Nixon, Richard M., 286, 303

Nobel Prize, 35–36, 257, 282

noninvasive neuromodulation, 262–64

normal bell curve, 468–69, 472

North Korea, 384

Norton, Michael I., 143–45

Nørretranders, Tor, 121–22

nuclear fuel, 36, 70

nuclear weapons, 2–3, 6–13

Obama, Barack, 100, 172, 315

objective/subjective assymetry, 127–30

Obrist, Ulrich, 214–17

obscene words, 48–49

observation, importance of, 325–27

obsession, with impact of worrying, 328–31

O’Donnell, James J., 475–76

oil spills, 35

Olympic Games, 272, 284

Oneal, John, 105–6

O’Neill, Brian, 237

100-Year Starship (100YSS), 355–57

open platforms, 342, 408, 461

Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 267

optogenetics, 301

Orbital Technologies, 69

O’Reilly, Tim, 58–59

outsourcing, 306–9, 396

Overbye, Dennis, 139

packaging worry, 456–57

Pakistan, 2

pandemics, 79, 308–9

Paralympics, 275

parasites, 298, 432

parents, 31, 379–82

Parker, Bruce, 246–49

Parkinson’s disease, 301

passback, 93

pathological synchrony, 79, 82

patience deficit, 41–44

PayPal, 68

Penn, Sean, 91–92

Pentecostalism, 207

perfect justice, war and, 4

pharmaceuticals, 37, 83–85, 288, 300–301, 302–5, 333, 375, 377–78, 440–43

phatic speech, 86

phenethylamine, 441

phenotechnology, 442

phobias, 370

physiological needs, 277, 278

Pickover, Clifford, 387–89

pi-meson, 356–57

Pinker, Steven, 1–5, 106, 279, 418, 434, 436–37

Pitt, Brad, 156

Pizarro, David, 56–57

placebo effect, 213

Planck, Max, 149

Planetary Resources, 69

Plato, 391

pleasure of agency (Wood), 360

poetry, 463

Poisson probabilities model, 469–70

Polchinski, Joseph, 183

politics, 158, 242–44, 250–53, 260, 315, 369, 421–23, 453. See also liberal democracy

Polity Project, 105

polygamy, 238–39

polygyny, 238–39

Polymath Project, 273

Popper, Karl, 198

Popular Culture (Fourth Culture), 246–49

population

aging. See aging population

decline in, 117–20

growth of, 68, 114–16

immigration trends, 119–20, 124, 235, 236, 244

portage cities, 444–45

Posner, Richard, 236–37

posthumanism, 352–54

Poundstone, William, 77

poverty, 108, 381

power, 277–79, 315–18, 379

PowerPoint, 88

powersats, 75–76

presentation technologies, 385–86

present-ism, 91–92, 427–30

press. See Internet; journalism

printing press, 46

prisons, 259–60, 437

privacy, 132, 284, 406–9

probability models, 468–72

Protestantism, 65

Provine, Robert, 477–78

Prozac, 83

psychiatric disorders, 83–85, 219, 292, 293, 299–301, 410

PTSD, 284, 374

Putin, Vladimir, 5

p values, 464–65

quantum mechanics, 174–80, 182–87, 191–94, 195, 273, 339

quantum theory, 177

quarks, 189–90. See also Standard Model

Quarter of a Second Rule, 42

queueing theory, 469–70

radiation, 72–76, 293–94

radio, 46, 48–49, 72–76

railroads, 69

Randall, Lisa, 174–76

Rawls, John, 105

Raza, Azra, 295–98

reciprocal altruism, 104

reductionism, in physics, 339

Rees, Martin, 9–13, 215–16

Regis, Ed, 355–57

regulatory capture, 35–36

relationships, 150–57, 323

relativity, 74, 177, 181–82, 184–85, 195

religious institutions, 15, 58, 60–66, 81

reproductive biotechnology, 23, 118–22

Research Excellence Framework (REF), 329

resource shortages, 1–2, 9, 69, 75–76, 115–16, 308–9

respect, 153

retirement age, 235

retroviruses, 297

Richardson, W. Mark, 389

Richter, Gerhard, 217

Ridley, Matt, 65–66

Rindermann, Heiner, 345–46

Robinson, Kim Stanley, 69

robots, 59, 123–24, 132–33, 236. See also artificial intelligence (AI); Singularity, The

Rogers Commission, 268

Roman Empire, 58, 65, 81, 247, 258

romantic love, 150–57, 273–74

Rosenathan, David, 83–84

Rosenberg, Robin S., 362–63

Rovelli, Carlo, 198–99

Rowan, David, 171–73

Royal Society, 394

Rushkoff, Douglas, 376–78

Russett, Bruce, 105–6

Russia, 118, 119

Sabbagh, Karl, 368–69

Saffo, Paul, 50–52

Sagan, Carl, 67–68, 70, 73

Salcedo-Albarán, Eduardo, 250–53

Sampson, Scott, 312–14

Samuelson, Paul, 149

Sanger, Larry, 401–2

Sapolsky, Robert, 218–22, 235–36

SARS, 201

SceneTap, 452–53

Schank, Roger, 458–60

Schiller, Friedrich, 206–7

schizophrenia, 84, 85, 219, 292, 293, 299–301, 410

Schmidt, Gavin, 347–48

Schneier, Bruce, 315–18

Schrödinger, Erwin, 193, 337, 415

Schwartz, Peter, 436–37

science. See also specific subjects and scientific fields

Age of Anxiety, 403–4

alternative institutions, 268

big business and, 37, 287–88, 394–95