Posfácio 2 - "What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit?"

A Edge Foundation publicou (creio que ontem) a "Edge Question 2011", formulada como no título acima. Volto a reabrir momentaneamente este blogue para daqui reenviar para: http://www.edge.org/q2011/q11_1.html.
Pois o âmbito deste blogue situa-se no horizonte aberto entre a expectativa de P. Snow e a do próprio John Brockman que a refere no menu "About Edge" (http://www.edge.org/about_edge.html): "In a second edition of The Two Cultures, published in 1963, Snow added a new essay, "The Two Cultures: A Second Look," in which he optimistically suggested that a new culture, a "third culture," would emerge and close the communications gap between the literary intellectuals and the scientists. In Snow's third culture, the literary intellectuals would be on speaking terms with the scientists. Although I borrow Snow's phrase, it does not describe the third culture he predicted. Literary intellectuals are not communicating with scientists. Scientists are communicating directly with the general public. Traditional intellectual media played a vertical game: journalists wrote up and professors wrote down. Today, third- culture thinkers tend to avoid the middleman and endeavor to express their deepest thoughts in a manner accessible to the intelligent reading public."
Cf. Da crise das humanidades e do seu desafio,...