What Should We Be Worried About?

INDEX

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acceptance versus worry, 209

access tiers, 408

accidental multiverse, 189

activity rhythm, 43

actual threats, 370–71

Adam and Eve, 61

Adams, Douglas, 50–51

adaptive language of fitness (Wright), 265–66

ADHD, 313, 376

Afghanistan, 2, 115, 158, 215, 299, 347

afterlife, 200, 225

Age of Anxiety, 403–4

Age of Reason, 337

aggregators, data, 347

aggression, 5

aging population, 59, 119–20, 124, 225–37, 283–84, 289, 292–94, 370–71, 407, 478

AIDS/HIV, 46, 126, 201

airport security, 437

air-traffic control, 12

Akin, Todd, 140

alcohol use, 46, 84, 370

Alexander, Stephon H., 438–39

aliens, space, 72–76

Allen, Woody, 136

alloparents, 381–82

Almheiri, Ahmed, 183

Alter, Adam, 399–400

Altmeyer, Robert, 279

Alzheimer’s disease risk profile, 407

American Mathematical Society (AMS), 388

American Psychiatric Association (APA), 84

Amish, 65

anesthesia, 29

AngelList, 445

Animal Liberation Front, 50–51

Aniston, Jennifer, 156

anomalies, 180–83

Anonymous, 353

anthropocebo effect, 213

Anthropocene Age, 10, 210–11, 213

anthropology, 51, 82, 146–49, 418

antibiotics, 201

anti-matter, 356–57

anxiety, 284, 285, 370, 373–76, 403–4

Apple Computer, 320–21

Archilochus, 51

Archimedes, 421

Argentina, 450

Arikha, Noga, 427–30

Aristotle, 105, 207, 336

Armageddonists, 3, 10, 60–64, 62–64, 72

Armstrong, Lance, 269, 270–71

Armstrong, Neil, 268

arrogance, 269–71

art, 215

artificial intelligence (AI), 349–51, 413, 448–49. See also robots; Singularity, The

asteroids, 147

Atran, Scott, 80–82

augmented reality, 77

auroras, 19

Australia, 119

authoritarianism, 15, 277–79

autism, 201, 263, 292–93, 299–301, 376–78

bacteria, 201–2, 295–98, 338–39

Baldwin, Stanley, 379

Barlow, John Perry, 316–17

Baron-Cohen, Simon, 417–20

Bateson, Mary Catherine, 456–57

Bayes’ Theorem, 471

Beethoven Ludwig van, 206–7

behavioral economics, 104

behavioral genetics, 104

bell curve, 468–69, 472

Benford, Gregory, 67–71

Bergen, Benjamin, 48–49

Berlin, Isaiah, 51

Berlinski, David, 389

Berreby, David, 233–37

Big Bang, 195

Bigelow Aerospace, 69

binomial probabilities model, 470–71

BioBricks, 23

biocomputers, 22

biofuels, 149

Bio-Lego, 23

biological engineering, 22–23

biometric data privacy, 284, 406–9

biophilia, 313

biosphere, 109

biotechnology, 448–49

bioterrorism, 12, 20

Bjork, Robert, 398

black-hole information-loss paradox, 182, 185, 187

Blackmore, Susan, 306–9

Black Plague, 120, 210

blacks, 438–39

Black Swans, 464–67, 469

Blake, William, 127

Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne, 45–47

Boccaletti, Giolio, 332–35

Bohm, David, 193

Bohr, Niels, 186, 192, 282

Boko Haram, 63–64

Bomblies, Kirsten, 431–32

bonding, 86–89

Borges, Jorge Luís, 450, 452

Born, Max, 282

Borwein, Jonathan, 385

Bosch, Hieronymus, 40

Bostrom, Nick, 448

Botox, 167

Bowles, Samuel, 360

BP (British Petroleum), 35

Brahms, Johannes, 415

brain. See neuroscience

Brassier, Ray, 216

Brazil, 233

breast cancer, 286–88

Bredekamp, Horst, 215

Brockman, John, 417–18

Broecker, Wallace S., 448

Bronze Age, 210

Brooks, Rodney A., 123–24

Brower, David, 50

Buddhism, 62, 81

bullying, 94, 166, 269–71

Buss, David M., 154–57

calculators, 384

calibrated peer evaluation, 385

cancer, 201, 230, 270–71, 286–88, 293, 295–98, 303, 370, 471–72

cannabis, 46

capture concept, 35–37

carbon cycle, 210–12, 237

Carlin, George, 48

Carr, Nicholas G., 41–44

cascading crises, 12–13, 16, 436–37

catastrophic risks, 9–13, 146–49, 204

catharsis, 206–8

Catholicism, 62–63, 65

cell phones, 14

censorship, 48–49, 316–17. See also freedom of expression

CERN, 174–80, 183, 197, 198–99, 273, 280

Challenger disaster, 268

Chalupa, Leo M., 424–26

cheating, 269–71, 331, 432, 458

chemotherapy, 287, 295

chess, 39

children, 220–21, 244, 247–48, 313, 399–400, 437

brain development, 45–47

language acquisition and, 48–49, 419–20

parents and, 31, 379–82

reproductive biotechnology, 23, 118–22

with special needs, 376–78

technology use, 39–40, 93–97, 319–20, 399–400

China, 5, 68, 102, 111, 114–17, 123–24, 233–35, 238–39, 317, 440, 442

Chinese Room thought experiment, 28–29

Chomsky, Noam, 135

Christadelphians, 62

Christakis, Nicholas A., 421–23

Christian, David, 107–9

Christianity, 62–63, 65, 81

CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development), 283

circle of empathy (Lanier), 359

Clark, Andy, 349–51

Clarke, Arthur C., 168

Clausewitz, Carl von, 4

climate change, 2, 9, 11–12, 59, 68, 82, 211, 308–9, 358, 366, 371, 373, 448, 449, 456–57

cloning, 23

clouds, 34

coal, 69

Cohen, Joel E., 233–34

cold war era, 6–8, 10–11

Colombia, 251

coma, measuring consciousness, 414

complementarity, 185–86

complex systems, 19–21, 78–79, 101

computers. See also artificial intelligence (AI); Internet

augmented reality, 77

automation trend, 289–90

blind spots related to, 210–12

cognitive consequences of electronics, 461–63

data disenfranchisement, 171–73

digital revolution, 31, 134

Druid/Engineer divide, 50–52

fascism and, 166–67

illusion of knowledge and understanding with, 396–98

loss of intellectual humility, 396–98

objects of desire, 93–97

positive contributions of, 244–45

posthuman geography and, 352–54

risk to liberal democracy, 240–45

“smart” solutions, 53–55

stifling of progress, 56–57

touch interface and, 310–11, 454–55

use by children, 39–40, 93–97, 319–20, 399–400

virtual reality, 38–40

wearable monitoring devices, 284, 406–9

conjugacy, 471–72

connectedness, 12–13, 16, 17–18, 78–79, 280–82, 436–37

conquest, as aggression, 5

conscientiousness, 478

consciousness, 26–29, 32–33, 135–38, 414, 473–74

contraception, 62–63

conversation, fear of, 93–94

cooperation, 358–67, 371–72, 376–78

Copenhagen Institute, 282

Copernicus, Nicolaus, 198

copyright, 255, 316, 317

coronavirus, 202

corporations, 352–53, 459

Correlates of War Project, 105–6

corruption, 244, 250–53, 269–71

coupling, 78–79

courseware, 320

crash of 1987, 464

Creation, 61

credit agencies, 172

creolization of the world (Glissant), 214–17

Crick, Francis, 267

crime, 221–22, 238–39, 244, 250–53, 259–60, 284, 315–18, 408–9, 437, 440–43

Cronin, Helena, 127–30

crowd sourcing, 408

crowd wisdom, 79

Crutchfield, James, 20–21

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, 38–40

Cuban missile crisis, 10, 11

cultural evolution, 431–32

cultural homogenization, 214–17

cultural learning, 349–51

cultural prehistory, 61

Curie, Marie, 267

Curiosity space rover, 141

cyberspace, 53

cyberwarfare, 2, 12, 316

Dahl, Roald, 26

Dalrymple, David, 352–54

Dark Ages, 52, 58, 59, 63, 64, 258

Darwin, Charles, 62, 128, 129, 326, 327

Das, Satyajit, 110–13

data disenfranchisement, 171–73

data mining, 171–73

dating services, 150–57

Dawkins, Richard, 431

Day of Judgment, 62, 63

death, 32–33, 200, 225–32, 236, 370–71, 441

De Biase, Luca, 461–63

de Broglie, Louis, 193

deception, 155

deceptive clarity (Linn), 397

decision-making process, 340–42

Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, 316–17

deep brain stimulation, 300–301

deep learning algorithms, 350–51

Deepwater Horizon drill rig disaster (Gulf of Mexico), 35

definition of worrying, 131–33, 135

De Grey, Aubrey, 289–91

DeHaene, Stanislaus, 410–14

Delbrück, Max, 282

dementia, 230, 233, 407

democracy. See liberal democracy

Democratic Republic of the Congo, 251

Deng Xiaoping, 102

Dennett, Daniel C., 14–16, 27, 128, 223

de novo mutations, 292–94

depression, 85, 262, 299, 300–301, 374, 377–78

Descartes, René, 27

description, importance of, 325–27

desirable difficulties (Bjork), 398

Devlin, Keith, 383–86, 387

diabetes, 234, 283, 293

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), 83–85

Diamond, Jared, 116

Dickens, Charles, 417

dictators, 15

digital commons, 254

digital humanities, 463

digital revolution, 31, 134, 310–11, 454–55

digital tattoos, 450–53

disaster relief, 204

disaster scenarios, 308–9

disease. See bacteria; infectious disease; viruses and specific diseases

diversity, 78–85, 438–39

Dobelli, Rolf, 322–24

doctoral-level education, 346, 459, 466–67

Dolly (cloned lamb), 23

Doraiswamy, P. Murali, 83–85

Dostoevsky, Fyodor, 454–55

Drake, Frank, 73

dreams, 28

Droit-Volet, Sylvie, 41

drones, war and, 2

drug trafficking, 244

drug use, 46, 260, 440–43. See also pharmaceuticals

Druid/Engineer divide, 50–52

Duntley, Joshua, 157

Dweck, Carol, 220

Dyson, Esther, 203–5

Dyson, Freeman, 12–13

Dyson, George, 17–18

Earth, 67–76, 161, 355–57

ecological chaos, 108–9, 111

ecology, 25, 462

economics, 67–71, 75–76, 104, 105–6, 112, 149, 171. See also financial crisis of 2008; financial markets

Economist Intelligence Unit, 171

effective versus neurotic worrying, 212

Eger, Evelyn, 412

Ehrenfest, Paul, 161–62, 267

Ehrenzweig, Anton, 474

Ehrlich, Paul, 114

Einstein, Albert, 74, 160, 177, 180–83, 193, 198, 199, 212, 267, 282

electric power grids, 12

electroencephalogram (EEG), 413–14

electromagnetism, 181–82

electronic tattoos, 453–53

e-mail, 56, 90–91, 307

empathy, 262–63, 359

Enlightenment, 63, 81, 337

Eno, Brian, 158, 439

Enriquez, Juan, 450–53

entrainment, 86–89

environment, 45–47, 210–12, 213, 288, 293–94, 303, 312–14. See also climate change

ecological chaos, 108–9, 111

water resources, 83, 332–35, 378

epilepsy, 262

epistemology of information, 463

error catastrophe threshold, 125–26

Eshleman, Von R., 74

eugenics, 66

Evans, Dylan, 100–102

Everett, Daniel L., 390–93

evidence, reasoning from, 460

evil, nature of, 368–69

evolutionary prehistory, 61

evolutionary psychology, 104

evolutionary theory, 104

exaggerated expectations, 302–5

excellence, war on, 265–68

exercise, 370

expanded reality, 192–93, 195–96

experimental mathematics, 384–85

exponential probabilities model, 469–70

extinction, 23–24, 80, 146, 214–17, 448

eye glasses, augmented, 77, 406, 407

Facebook, 43, 87, 171, 173, 254–55, 315–16, 408, 428

facial-recognition technologies, 453

falsifiability, 188–89

fascism, technology-generated, 166–67

fat tails/kurtosis, 464–67

Fehr, Ernst, 360

Ferguson, Niall, 112–16

fertility rates, 118, 121–22, 235, 236

Feyerabend, Paul, 198

Feynman, Richard, 149, 268

financial crisis of 2008, 13, 111–12, 159–63, 368, 371, 436, 469

financial markets, 12, 20, 79, 267, 368–69. See also financial crisis of 2008

Finn, Christine, 310–11

fire departments, 444

Firestein, Stuart, 302–5

firewall paradox, 183–85

Fisher, Helen, 150–53

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 110, 113, 322

flash crashes, 20, 79

flipping a coin, 470–71

flu, 201, 202

Flynn Effect, 344

Foreman, Richard, 473–74

Four Second Rule, 42

Fourth Culture, 246–49

FoxNews.com, 143, 144–45

freedom, 203–5, 243

freedom of expression, 48–49, 248–49, 463. See also censorship

free will, 218–24

Freud, Sigmund, 66, 370

Friedman, Howard, 478

Frith, Chris and Uta, 273–74

Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster (Japan), 36

Fukuyama, Francis, 100

Fuller, R. Buckminster, 390–93

functional magnetic resonance imaging, 410–11

fundamentalism, 50–51, 56–66, 177–79, 184–90

Futurist movement, 461

Galileo, 421

Gallant, Jack, 412

game theory, 104

Gamow, George, 267

gangs, prison, 259–60

Gardner, Howard, 223–24

Gates, Bill, 391

Gatto, Taylor, 279

Gefter, Amanda, 180–83

Gelernter, David, 90–92

gender

breast cancer research, 286–88

education of girls, 47

myths about men, 150–53

objective/subjective asymmetry, 127–30

pharmaceuticals and, 377–78

sex differences in the mind, 419–29

sex ratio in China, 238–39

gene therapy, 167

genetically modified organisms (GMO), 23, 24, 50

genetic engineering, 23, 132

genetics, 125–26, 204, 288, 292–94, 420. See also genomics

genetic sequencing, 273, 280, 292–94, 295, 297–98

genius, war on excellence and, 265–68

genomics, 24, 273, 288, 292–94, 295–301, 408

geomagnetic storms, 19–20

Germany, 118, 206, 244, 441

Gershenfeld, Neil, 168–70

Gibbon, Edward, 258

Gibson, William, 446

Giddings, Steve, 184–87

gift of worrying, 477–78

Gil, Sandrine, 41

Gilliam, Terry, 209

Glissant, Édouard, 214

globalization, 80–85, 214–17, 243–44, 364–67, 431–32

global warming, 211, 371, 448, 456–57

Gold, Joel, 373–75

Goleman, Daniel, 210–12

Good, Irving J., 32

good life, ideas of, 107–9

goodness, expectation of, 368–69

Google, 34, 42, 56, 164–65, 171, 315, 316, 326–27

Google Images, 454

Google News, 347

Google Plus, 408

Gopnik, Alison, 379–82

Gottschall, Jonathan, 433–35

Gould, Stephen Jay, 313

government. See also liberal democracy; politics

alternative forms of, 100–102

censorship of the Internet, 316

funding of science, 290–91, 328–31, 422–23

need for coordination of laws, 371–72

protecting complex systems from catastrophe, 21

regulatory capture, 35–36

sociopolitical forces in science, 421–23

Gowers, Tim, 273

GPS, 19, 20, 79, 396

gratitude, 274–75

gravitational lensing, 74–75

Great Gatsby, The (Fitzgerald), 110, 113, 322

Greece, 107, 166, 453

Greens, 51

Grothendieck, Alexander, 267

groupism, 4, 147–49

groupthink, 266

growth, 107–16

G-type stars, 147

Guatemala, 251

hacking, 284, 408–9

Haidt, Jonathan, 278–79

Hainmueller, Jens, 359

Hales, Thomas, 387

hallucinogenic drugs, 441, 443

handprints, 211–12

Hannay, Timo, 26–29

hantavirus, 202

Happé, Francesca, 273–74

happiness, 138, 301

harassment, 94

Harris, Sam, 259–60

Harvard Business School, 284

Harvard School of Public Health, 211

Haun, Daniel, 364–67

Hawking, Stephen, 72, 185

health care, 200–205

heart disease, 201, 230, 234, 370, 441

hedgehog/fox distinction, 51

Heffernan, Virginia, 134

Heider, Fritz, 273

Heisenberg, Werner, 192

helmets, 200, 204

Henry, John, 62

herd mentality, 281

heresy, 62, 63–64

heroes, 267–76, 282

Heyes, Cecilia, 350

hidden-variables theory, 193–94

Higgs, Peter, 272

Higgs boson, 139, 140, 174–75, 177–78, 180, 197, 300, 319

high blood pressure, 283

higher education, 346, 385–86, 390–93, 459, 466–67

higher mind, 87

Highfield, Roger, 272–76

Hillis, W. Daniel, 164–65

Hinduism, 81

Hiscox, Michael, 359

history, 61, 427–30, 444–46

HIV/AIDS, 46, 126, 201

Hobsbawn, Eric, 216

Hoffman, Donald D., 135–38

holography/complementarity, 185–86

Holton, Gerald, 224

Homer, 153

Homo erectus, 61, 80

homogenization, 80–85, 214–17, 281

Homo sapiens, 61, 114, 343–44

Hood, Bruce, 328–31

Hubble’s constant, 356

hubristic pride, 269–71

Huffington, Arianna, 283–84

Huffington Post, 91–92, 401

human capital, 346

Human Genome Project, 273, 288, 295, 299

human geography, 352–54

Human Microbiome Project (HMP), 297–98

human/nature divide, 312–14

human rights, 4–5, 243

Hume, David, 103

Humeau, Marguerite, 216–17

Humphrey, Nicholas, 454–55

Hypatia, 58

hypercivilization, 147

hyperworry, 372

Iacobini, Marco, 261–64

IBM, 171

ice ages, 147

identity theft, 316

idiocracy/stupidity, 343–46, 458–60

imagination, 198–99, 370–71

imagined threats, 370–71

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

immunization, 201–2, 403–4

impact, 328–31

impulse control, 134, 221

income inequality, 108, 166–67, 171–73, 381

incompetent systems, 98–99

India, 115, 233, 234

indirect reciprocity, 273–74

individuality, 4, 33, 78–79, 267–68, 272–76. See also heroes; homogenization

Industrial Revolution, 31, 69, 289–90, 337, 384

infectious disease, 201–2, 296–97, 403–4. See also bacteria; viruses

influenza, 201, 202

information-ecosystem metaphor, 462

Information Revolution, 31, 134

Inquisition, 421

Instagram, 173, 255

instant gratification, 42–43

intellectual property rights, 98–99, 254–56, 316, 317

interdependencies, 358–63

intergenerational conflict, 229–32, 236–37. See also aging population

Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs), 106

International Data Corporation, 171

International Space Station, 68–69

International Telecommunication Union, 318

Internet. See also social media

backup systems, 16, 17–18

cyberattack risks, 2, 12, 284, 316, 408–9

cyberspace, 53

David and Goliath scenario, 15

devaluation of written word and, 87, 90–92

electronic tattoos and, 450–53

fragility of complex systems, 19–21

illegal drugs and, 442

impact on adolescent brain development, 46

instant gratification and, 42–43

intellectual property rights, 254–56

leveling influence of, 14–16

new opportunities, 131–32

news articles on, 342

online silos, 401–2

patience deficit and, 42–43

Popular Culture and, 246–49

power and, 315–18

as reference library, 427

risks of interconnectedness, 12–13, 17–18, 280–82

risk to liberal democracy, 240–45

safe mode for, 17–18

search engines, 164–65, 461

“smart” solutions, 53–55

interplanetary economy, 67–71, 75–76

interstellar travel, 355–57

intersubjectivity, 87

inter-universal Teichmüller theory, 388

intimate-partner battering, 156, 157

investment banks, 159–63

IQ (intelligence quotient), 343–46, 458–60, 478

Iran, 118, 244, 456

Iraq, 1–2, 158

Islam, 62, 63, 65, 81

is-ought fallacy, 103–6

Italy, 235

Jacquet, Jennifer, 213

James, William, 41, 223

Japan, 118, 119, 124, 235

Jardin, Xeni, 286–88

Jefferson, Thomas, 453

Jeffery, Kate, 229–32

Jehovah’s Witnesses, 60–62

Jerome, St., 58

John of Patmos, St., 60

journalism, 36–37, 139–45, 150–53, 248–49, 342, 347–48, 379, 401–2

Judaism, 62, 65, 81

Kaczynski, Ted, 50–51

Kahneman, Daniel, 3, 223, 475

Kant, Immanuel, 105

Kauffman, Stuart A., 336–39

Kaufmann, Eric, 65

Kedrosky, Paul, 444–46

Kelly, Kevin, 117–20

Keltner, Dacher, 278–79

Kennedy, John F., 10

Kennedy, Robert, 108–9

Kenrick, Douglas T., 343–46

Kepler, Johannes, 336

Kerouac, Jack, 311

Keynesian economics, 112, 149

Khrushchev, Nikita, 10

Kickstarter, 212, 445

King, Stephen, 434–35

Kinsbourne, Marcel, 86–89

Kirilenko, Andrei, 172

Klein, Gary, 403–4

Knutson, Brian, 370–72

Kosko, Bart, 468–72

Kosslyn, Stephen M., 362–63

Krause, Kai, 319–21

Krauss, Lawrence M., 195–97

Kreye, Andrian, 206–8

Krishnan, Shunmuga, 43

Kuhn, Thomas, 198

kurtosis/fat tails, 464–67

Kurzban, Robert, 238–39

Kurzweil, Ray, 32, 34, 236

Lang, Serge, 267

language impairment, 420

Lanier, Jason, 359

Laplace, Marquis de, 339

Laplacian Demon, 339

Large Hadron Collider (LHC), 174–80, 183, 197, 198–99, 273

LaTeX, 385–86

Latinos, 119–20, 438–39

learning disabilities, 376

Leavis, F. R., 417

LeDoux, Joseph, 285

Lehman Brothers, 163, 465

Lehrer, Jonah, 269, 270

leverage, financial, 163

Levi, Margaret, 358–61

liberal democracy, 99, 100–102, 105–6, 112–13, 240–45, 248, 250–53

libertarianism, 51, 200–202, 316–17

Library of Congress, 255–56

lifestyle choices, 370–71

Lih, Andrew, 254–56

Linn, Marcia, 397

Lisi, Anthony Garrett, 225–28

literature, personal letters in, 90–91

living standards, 107–16

Livio, Mario, 188–90

Lloyd, Seth, 159–63

local cooperation, 365, 367

locality, 184–87

Lombrozo, Tania, 396–98

Lorentz, Hendrik, 181, 182

LSD, 443

Luther, Martin, 223

lying, 269–71

Lysenkoism, 66

MacNamara, Robert, 10

MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), 6–8

Maddison, Angus, 107

magic, 168–70

malware, 79

manual skills, 306–9

many-worlds explanation, 192–93

Mao Zedong, 108

Marcus, Gary, 447–49

marijuana, 46

market economy, 81, 105–6. See also financial markets

Marolf, Donald, 183

Martin, Ursula, 325–27

Maslow, Abraham, 277

Massey Energy, 35

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

material progress, 107–9, 319–24

mate value, 154–57, 323

mathematics, 273, 383–89

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

blown opportunities, 257–58

compartmentalization, 415–16

decline in news media coverage, 139–45

decline of scientific hero, 267–68, 272–76, 282

diversity in, 438–39

in educational institutions, 425–26

elite versus “scientifically challenged” majority, 424–26

as enemy of humankind, 394–95

extending life span, 225–28, 230–32, 236

failure to understand everything, 387–89

Fourth Culture as threat to, 247–48

free will versus, 218–24

human/nature divide and, 313–14

impact of increased medical knowledge, 203–5

impact on reproduction, 23, 118–22

importance of impact in research, 261–64, 328–31

importance of science literacy, 241–42

is-ought fallacy, 103–6

“monsters from the id,” 147–49

objective/subjective asymmetry, 127–30

obsession with impact, 261–64, 328–31

peer-reviewed life-science publishing, 261–64, 330–31

physical threats, 146–47

positive contributions of, 244–45

public funding for research, 290–91, 328–31, 422–23

social media impact on coverage, 143–45

sociopolitical forces in, 421–23

undervaluing of, 319

university partnerships with industry, 261–64, 330

war on excellence, 265–68

science capture, 37

scientific method, 341

search engines, 164–65, 461

Searle, John, 28

seatbelts, 372

Segre, Gino, 280–82

Seife, Charles, 35–37

Sejnowski, Terrence J., 299–301

self-actualization needs, 277–79

self-driving cars, 31, 56–57

self-esteem, 47, 156, 270, 277, 278

self-interest, 359, 364–65

self-reflection, 95

self-sufficiency, 307

semantic search, 164–65

serenity prayer, 373–74

Seventh-Day Adventists, 62

Shakespeare, William, 136, 326

shame, 270

Shermer, Michael, 103–6

Shockley, William, 267

short-term memory, 428–29

Shostak, Seth, 72–76

Silk Road, 81

silos, online, 401–2

Simmel, Mary-Ann, 273

Singularity, The, 30–34, 50, 58, 207, 349–51

Sitaraman, Ramesh, 43

Slashdot, 401

sleep habits, 85, 203, 284, 404, 406

Slovic, Paul, 3

Smale, Stephen, 267

smallpox, 403–4

smartphones, 14, 79, 93–97, 399–400, 453, 454

“smart” solutions, 53–55

Smith, Cameron, 355

Smith, Laurence C., 114–15

smoking, 46, 200–201, 370

Smolin, Lee, 191–94

Snow, C. P., 51, 246, 417–20

social chaos, 20

social determinism, 420

social media

access tiers, 408

children and, 94

disconnect between news and understanding, 347

electronic tattoos and, 451–52

human interaction and, 86–89, 94–95

impact on adolescent brain development, 46

impact on science coverage, 143–45

instant gratification and, 43

intellectual property rights, 254–56

power and, 315–16

social prejudice, 262–63

Socrates, 148

solar energy, 75–76

solitude, 95–96

South Korea, 239

South Park (movie), 49

Soviet Union, fall of, 3, 5, 11, 353

space aliens, 72–76

Space Ark, 355–56

space-warp propulsion, 356–57

SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation), 68–69

Spain, 235

Sperber, Dan, 131–33

spice drugs, 441

SSRN (Social Science Research Network), 465

stalking, 156–57

Standard Model, 177–79, 180, 189–90, 197

Stapel, Diederik, 269, 270

status seeking, 322–24

steam engines, 69

Sterling, Bruce, 34

Stigler, George, 35–36, 37

stochastics, fat tails/kurtosis, 464–67

Stodden, Victoria, 340–42

Strauch, Barbara, 139–42

stress, 85, 135, 203, 218–19, 221, 283–84

Strogatz, Steven, 78–79

stroke, 234, 370

stupidity/idiocracy, 343–46, 458–60

stuttering, 420

subjective experience, 27

Sudan, 251

Sully, James, 183

Sumner, Seirian, 22–25

Superconducting Super Collider (canceled), 175

superstition, 65–66

surveillance, 316, 410–11

Susskind, Leonard, 182

Swan, Melanie, 406–9

synchronization, 78–79, 82

synergy, 362–63

synthetic biology, 12–13, 22–25, 50

tablets, 14, 93–97, 399–400

taboo words, 48–49

Taiwan, 239

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas, 464–67

Tales of the Unexpected (TV series), 26

Taliban, 215

tattoos, digital, 450–53

tax evasion, 244

Taylor, Timothy, 60–64

teamwork. See cooperation

Tegmark, Max, 30–33

telescope technology, 73–75

television, 39–40, 46

television signals, 72–76

Teller, Edward, 267

Terman, Louis, 478

terrorism, 2–3, 11, 12, 20, 132, 206, 433, 435, 437, 451

testosterone, 218, 238–39, 419

thalidomide, 441

themata, 224

Theory of Everything, 190

Thiel Fellowship program, 268, 352

Third Culture, 246, 417–18

Thirion, Bertrand, 412

Thompson, James, 345–46

Thutmose III of Egypt, 60

time, 41–44, 240–41, 427–30

Tooby, John, 146–49

Topol, Eric J., 292–94

touch interface, 310–11, 454–55

Tracy, Jessica L., 269–71

trade, in market economy, 81, 105–6

transhumanism, 50, 352–54

transparency, 14, 106, 242–43

transport, 69, 355–57

tribalism, 148, 348, 358

trust, 153, 155

Tudge, Colin, 394–95

Turing, Alan, 28

Turkle, Sherry, 93–97

Tversky, Amos, 3

Twain, Mark, 86

Twitter, 43, 87, 241, 254, 255–56, 315–16

typewriters, 311

U2, 207

Ukraine, 415

uncertainty, 289–91

understanding, 347–48, 387–89

UNESCO, 5

Ungaretti, Giuseppe, 461, 463

UNICEF, 46–47

uniform probability model, 470

Universal Turing Machine, 278

universe, 195–96, 355–57

unknown unknowns, 1, 289–91, 447–49

unnecessary worrying, 134, 200–202

Upper Big Branch mine disaster (Virginia), 35

Up with Technology, 445

urbanization, 115–16, 118–19

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 283–84, 421

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 412

U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 317

U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 48–49

U.S. National Security Agency, 172–73

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), 36

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), 36

Ussher of Armagh, Archbishop, 61

U.S. Supreme Court, 48–49

utopian ideologies, war and, 4

vaccination, 201–2, 403–4

Vassar, Michael, 277–79

vegetative state, measuring consciousness, 414

Venter, J. Craig, 200–202

video cameras, 451, 452–53

video games, 38–40, 46, 247, 433–34

Vienna Circle, 415

Vietnam, 1

Vinge, Vernor, 6–8, 32, 34

violence, 156, 157, 259–60, 433–35, 436–37. See also video games; war

Virgin Galactic, 69

virtual reality, 38–40

viruses, 125–26, 201–2, 282, 295–98, 403–4

vocabulary, 48–49, 419–20

Volcker, Paul, 111–12

Voodoo, 207

Voyager 1 spacecraft, 67–68, 70, 355–56

Wallich, Henry, 112

Walmart, 171

war, 1–13, 38–40, 75, 105–6, 247, 316

War on Cancer, 286–88, 303

War on Drugs, 260, 440–43

water resources, 83, 332–35, 378

Watson, James, 267

Watters, Ethan, 85

Weber, Max, 336

Weibo, 254, 255

Weinberg’s Dream, 339

Weinstein, Eric R., 265–68

Weisman, Alan, 113

West Nile virus, 201

whistleblowers, 369

whooping cough, 202

Wikipedia, 164, 428

Wilczek, Frank, 257–58

Williams, George C., 19, 101

will to survive, 405

Wilson, E. O., 313

Winer, Dave, 405

wireless devices, 34

Woit, Peter, 177–79

Wood, Elisabeth, 360

Woolf, Virginia, 237

World Health Organization (WHO), 85, 233, 283

World Trade Organization (WTO), 318

World War I, 7

World War II, 1, 4–5, 73, 167, 461

World Wide Web, 280, 342. See also Internet

worry gap, 370–71

Wright, Sewall, 265–66

writing, 87, 90–92. See also journalism

Yeager, Chuck, 226

Y2K-bug, 2, 456

yoga, 284

YouTube, 171, 254, 412, 451

Zeilberger, Doron, 387–88

Zeilinger, Anton, 415–16

Zimmer, Carl, 298

zoonotic transfer, 201, 202, 210

Zoroastrianism, 81

Zweig, Stefan, 214–15, 217

zygomatic arches, 221