Michael's questions

I've been looking at the blog of Michael Graham Richard, who wrote a comment on my posting about prayer (below this one). His most recent posting is a list of seven interesting questions which he invites readers to answer.

1. What would you nominate as the best idea that anybody has ever had? Why?

I'd have to nominate Darwin's theory of evolution via natural selection. It confronted us with the most revolutionary insight in human history so far: the insight that we humans are animals, blood relatives of the other great apes and ultimately of all the life on this planet. It's the underpinning of most of modern science. It permeates the way scientifically-literate humans understand the universe.

2. What non-fiction book do you think everybody should read? Why?

My choice is Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey (see my review here). Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Near is more profound in its vision of the long-term human future, but Ending Aging calls our attention to the most profound achievement that could be brought about by a concerted effort right now. In an important sense there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who have gotten it through their heads that ending aging and death is imminently possible and those who haven't.

3. What fiction book do you think everybody should read? Why?

There are so many one could choose! And tastes in fiction are inevitably idiosyncratic. But I'd go with Household Gods by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove. It's the story of a modern American woman who is transported back in time and lives for over a year in a border town of the Roman Empire. Clearly well-researched, it gives you both a real appreciation for Roman civili-zation and an understanding of the vast gulf which separates the modern world from even the most advanced pre-modern cultures. Close runner-up: the best science-fiction novel I've ever read, The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

4. What technology has most changed your life in the past 10 years and why? What technology do you think will have the biggest impact on your life in the next 10 years and why?

For the last ten years, without question, it's the internet. For the next ten years, I expect it would be either further refinements of the internet, or (if they happen) major advances in anti-aging technology. I'm only 47 now, but there are people I care about who are older.

5. What piece of music would you want with you on a desert island (that has a functioning stereo, of course)?

My answer to this would vary endlessly depending on what I'd just listened to before hearing the question.

6. What is the most interesting thing you are working on/reading about/writing about these days?

Reading about: the various technological innovations that point the way to the Singularity.

7. Looking ahead, are you an optimist or a pessimist? Why?

Definitely an optimist. Almost every aspect of human life is getting steadily better and better, and the trend is accelerating. I expect it will continue to do so.