From: John Brockman Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 8:06 PM To: Paul Allen; Jeff Bezos; Sergey Brin; Hubert Burda; Steve Case; John Doerr, Jeffrey Epstein; Tony Fadell; Bill Gates; W. Daniel Hillis; Maja Hoffmann; Bill Joy; Salar Kamangar; Dean Kamen; Vinod Khosla; Marissa Mayer; Kary Mullis; Elon Musk; Nathan Myhrvold; Pierre Omidyar, Larry Page; Sean Parker, Jean Pigozzi; Nick Pritzker Muccia Prada; Eric Schmidt; J.E. Safra/Doumanian; Ricardo Salinas Pliego; Charles Simonyi; Jeff Skoll; Craig Venter, Stefan von Holtzbrinck; Jimmy Wales; Evan Williams; Mark Zuckerberg Subject: The Edge Annual Question 2012 - Invitation (Confidential)

To: Paul Allen, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin. Hubert Burda, Steve Case. John =oerr, Jeffrey Epstein, Tony Fadell, Bill Gates, Danny Hillis, Maja =offman, Bill Joy, Salar Kamangar, Dean Kamen, Vinod Khosla, Marissa =ayer, Kary Mullis Elon Musk, Nathan Myhrvold, Pierre Omidyar, Larry =age, Sean Parker, Jean Pigozzi, Nick Pritzker, Miuccia Prada, Eric =chmidt, Jacqui Safra, Ricardo Salinas Pilego, Charles Simonyi, Jeff =koll, Craig Venter, Jimmy Wales, Evan Williams, Mark Zuckerberg

Re: The EDGE Annual Question 2012 - Invitation to participate

In the summer of 2009, in a talk at the Bristol (UK) Festival of Ideas, =reeman Dyson articulated a vision for the future. He referenced "The =ge Of Wonder", by Richard Holmes, in which the first Romantic Age =escribed by Holmes was centered on chemistry and poetry, while Dyson =ointed out that this new age is dominated by computational biology. Its =eaders, he noted, include "biology wizards" Kary Mullis, Craig Venter, =edical engineer Dean Kamen; and "computer wizards" Larry Page and =ergey Brin, and Charles Simonyi. He pointed out that the nexus for this =ntellectual activity — the Lunar Society for the 21st century — is =entered around the activities of EDGE.

Dyson continued to articulate his vision for a new age of biology in a =elated review inNew York Review of Books in which he wrote: "...a new =eneration of artists, writing genomes as fluently as Blake and Byron =rote verses, might create an abundance of new flowers and fruit and =rees and birds to enrich the ecology of our planet. Most of these =rtists would be amateurs, but they would be in close touch with =cience, like the poets of the earlier Age of Wonder. The new Age of =onder might bring together wealthy entrepreneurs like Venter and Kamen =.. and a worldwide community of gardeners and farmers and breeders, =orking together to make the planet beautiful as well as fertile, =ospitable to hummingbirds as well as to humans."

So, along these lines, who can best articulate the important issues =uestions we face today than the very people who are, through their =deas and entrepreneurial zeal, changing the very nature of reality =tself. Here's the 2012 Annual Question. Before sending it out widely to =he list, it's useful to seed the project with a dozen or so interesting =esponses to provide examples and set a high bar. Even better, to =nspire. How about it?? Hope to hear from you. JB

## THE WORLD QUESTION CENTER

## 2012: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL =XPLANATION?

=ttp://edge.org/annual-question/what-is-your-favorite-deep-elegant-or-beau=iful-explanation&view=draft

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## 2012: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL =XPLANATION? (cont.)

PRESS EMBARGO UNTIL PUBLICATION (12am EST, Sunday, January 15th). DO NOT =ITE OR CIRCULATE
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"We'd certainly be better off if everyone sampled the fabulous EDGE =ymposium, which, like the best in science, is
modest and daring all at =nce."

— David Brooks, THE NEW YORK TIMES
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Scientists' greatest pleasure comes from theories that derive the =olution to some deep puzzle from a small set of simple principles in a =urprising way. These explanations are called "beautiful" or "elegant". =istorical examples are Kepler's explanation of complex planetary =otions as simple ellipses, Bohr's explanation of the periodic table of =he elements in terms of electron shells, and Watson and Crick's double =elix. Einstein famously said that he did not need experimental =onfirmation of his general theory of relativity because it "was so =eautiful it had to be true."

The EDGE Question 2012

## WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL =XPLANATION?

Since this question is about explanation, answers may embrace scientific =hinking in the broadest sense: as the most reliable way of gaining =nowledge about anything, including other fields of inquiry such as =hilosophy, mathematics, economics, history, political theory, literary =heory, or the human spirit. The only requirement is that some simple =nd non-obvious idea explain some diverse and complicated set of =henomena.

(Thanks to Steven Pinker for suggesting this year's EDGE Question and to =tewart Brand, Kevin Kelly, and George Dyson for their ongoing advice =nd support.)

"Open-minded, free ranging, intellectually playful ... an unadorned =leasure in curiosity, a collective expression of wonder at the living =nd inanimate world ... an ongoing and thrilling colloquium."

—Ian McEwan in THE TELEGRAPH

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SUBMITTING ESSAYS: Email as text or attached Word file to me =brockman@edge.org).

DUE DATE: 5pm, Thursday, January 12th

PUBLICATION DATE: 12am EST, Sunday, January 15th

URL: Essays will be posted at this draft URL (not visible to search =ngines). Please keep confidential.

PRESS EMBARGO: Until publication. Do not cite or circulate.

=--------------------------------------------------------------------------------=------------------------

EDITORIAL MARCHING ORDERS

## WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL =XPLANATION? (cont.)

Of course, your own explanations are deep, elegant, and beautiful. But =ive it a rest for this exercise and please avoid citing your own =heory, idea, explanation. Also, think of examples that are not =ompletely obvious—we don't want a hundred people nominating natural =election, or relativity, or Turing machines.

Say something new, true, and interesting based on your own experience, =n 1,000 words or less.

Go deeper than the news. Tell us something we don't know. This is not a =urely scientific question: this is question about our culture and =urselves. The ideas we present on EDGE can offer a new set of metaphors =o describe ourselves, our minds, the way we think, the world, and all =f the things we know in it.

As usual, no politics ("Democrat" "Republican") or politicians ("Obama" =Romney" "Clinton" "Gingrich", etc.). No editorials, Op-eds, opinion =ieces, flippancy. No ad hominem comments. No self-promotion: no =eferencing your books, papers, courses. No "selling from the stage", =ushing your well-known agenda. No footnotes, credits, or hyperlinks in =he text: stay on the page. No anecdotes about spouses, significant =thers, kids, family pets. Write a stand-alone piece: don't respond to =he pieces of other contributors already posted.

This is the annual opportunity for the EDGE community to give something =ack, to provide an important public service, to make a statement by =resenting uncompromisingly sophisticated science-minded thinking to a =ide global audience. Be imaginative, exciting, compelling, inspiring. =ell a great story. Make an argument that makes a difference. Amaze and =elight. Surprise us!

## TO THE EDGE PRESS LIST

Last year's EDGE Question ("What Scientific Concept Would Improve =verybody's Cognitive Toolkit?" - http://goo.gl/bEzNP - generated 165 =ssays (115,000 words) and received global press attention - =ttp://goo.gl/Ygxs7

For some background on how the EDGE Annual Questions comes together, =heck out "A Big Question", an article I wrote for the Nieman Foundation =n 2010 - http://goo.gl/udnZg We expect at least as many contributions this year. Please feel free use =p to 1,500 words of text (gratis) without further permission, provided =hat:

(a) EDGE and its URL (www.edge.org) are mentioned in the first paragraph =f your print and online piece; and

(b) a hyperlink to the EDGE home page (http://www.edge.org) is provided =n the first paragraph of your online edition.

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

Happy New Year!

John Brockman
Editor & Publisher
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It's ever more delectable that EDGE-the network of prominent scientists =nd intellectuals— has worked against the reciprocal ignorance of =iterary cultures and sciences of each other. Successfully. If you take =he algorithms developed

## TO THE EDGE PRESS LIST (cont.)

by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, which measure =he value of links, EDGE'S website ranks seven on a global scale of ten. =HE NEW YORK TIMES ranks nine, eBay at eight.

— SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG

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