The irresistible What We Believe But Cannot Prove sprung out of the annual question asked at edge.org by TEDster John Brockman. The contributors include many TED speakers, including: Martin Rees, Ray Kurzweil, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Petranek, Craig Venter, Michael Shermer, Jared Diamond, Freeman Dyson, Daniel Gilbert, Steven Pinker, Dan Dennett, George Dyson, Irene Pepperberg, Kevin Kelly, Jaron Lanier, Kai Krause, Danny Hillis. The list goes on …

What they write is almost universally thought-provoking, and it’s easy just to dip in, dip out. Who could not be intrigued by, for example, John Barrow. “I believe, but cannot prove, that our universe is infinite in size, finite in age, and just one among many….” or Daniel Goleman “I believe, but cannot prove, that today’s children are unintended victims of economic and technological progress…” or Alun Anderson “I believe that cockroaches are conscious.” or Charles Simonyi. “I believe we are writing software the wrong way. There are sound evolutionary reasons why we are doing so…” My favorite single entry? Danny Hillis’s. Check it out… page 246. As he admits, it sounds corny. But I think he’s onto something profound. Ask him about it at TED next week. – Chris