2012 : WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?

Contributors [191] | View All Responses [191]

Andrei Linde Father of "Eternal Chaotic Inflation"; Professor of... Read Contribution	Richard H. Thaler Father of Behavioral Economics; Director, Center for... Read Contribution
Charles Simonyi Creator, WYSIWYG word processor; Cofounder, Intentional... Read Contribution	Nathan Myhrvold CEO and Managing Director, Intellectual Ventures;... Read Contribution
Vilayanur Ramachandran Neuroscientist; Professor & Director, Center for Brain... Read Contribution	Mahzarin Banaji Psychologist; Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social... Read Contribution
Dan Sperber Social and Cognitive Scientist; Directeur, de Recherche... Read Contribution	Carolyn Porco Planetary Scientist; Cassini Imaging Team Leader;... Read Contribution
Anton Zeilinger Physicist, University of Vienna; Scientific Director,... Read Contribution	Stewart Brand Founder, The Whole Earth Catalog; Co-founder, The Well;... Read Contribution
Carl Zimmer Journalist: Author, Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science... Read Contribution	David M. Buss Professor of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin;... Read Contribution
Andrian Kreye Editor, The Feuilleton (Arts and Essays), of the German... Read Contribution	David Pizarro Psychologist, Cornell University Read Contribution
Dave Winer Founder of UserLand Software Read Contribution	Emily Pronin Associate Professor of Psychology, Princeton University Read Contribution
David Dalrymple Researcher, MIT, Mind Machine Project Read Contribution	Raphael Bousso Professor of Theoretical Physics, Berkeley Read Contribution
Marco Iacoboni Neuroscientist; Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral... Read Contribution	Tim O Reilly Founder and CEO of O Reilly Media, Inc. Read Contribution
David M. Eagleman Neuroscientist, Baylor College of Medicine; Author,... Read Contribution	Seirian Sumner Research Fellow in Evolutionary Biology, Institute of... Read Contribution
Kevin P. Hand Planetary Scientist and Astrobiologist, NASA Jet... Read Contribution	Tania Lombrozo Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of California Read Contribution
Helena Cronin Co-Director of LSE's Centre for Philosophy of Natural and... Read Contribution	Antony Garrett Lisi Theoretical physicist Read Contribution
Eduardo Salcedo-albaran Colombian philosopher Read Contribution	Brian Knutson Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience;... Read Contribution
Michael Vassar President, Singularity Institute Read Contribution	John Mcwhorter Linguist; Cultural Commentator; Senior Fellow, Manhattan... Read Contribution
Gregory Cochran Consultant; Adaptive Optics and Adjunct Professor of... Read Contribution	Christine Finn Archaeologist, Journalist; Author, Artifacts Read Contribution
Andrew Lih Associate Professor of Journalism, University of Southern... Read Contribution	P Z Myers Biologist; Associate Professor, University of Minnesota,... Read Contribution
Max Tegmark Physicist, MIT; Researcher, Precision Cosmology;... Read Contribution	Eric R. Weinstein Mathematician and Economist; Principal, Natron Group Read Contribution
Dimitar D. Sasselov Professor of Astronomy, Harvard University; Director,... Read Contribution	Virginia Heffernan Columnist, The New York Times Magazine Read Contribution
Helen Fisher Biological Anthropologist, Rutgers University; Author,... Read Contribution	John Naughton Academic; Newspaper Columnist; Vice-President, Wolfson... Read Contribution
Barry C. Smith Professor & Director, Institute of Philosophy School of... Read Contribution	Stuart A. Kauffman Professor of Biological Sciences, Physics, Astronomy,... Read Contribution
John Tooby Founder of field of Evolutionary Psychology; Co-Director,... Read Contribution	Bart Kosko Information Scientist and Professor of Electrical... Read Contribution
Stephon H. Alexander Associate Professor of Physics, Haverford College Read Contribution	Gregory Paul Independent Researcher; Author, Dinosaurs of the Air Read Contribution
Bruce Hood Director of the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre in... Read Contribution	Amanda Gefter Consultant, New Scientist; Founding Editor, CultureLab" Read Contribution
Douglas Coupland Writer, Artist, Designer; Author, Generation A Read Contribution	Matt Ridley Science Writer; Founding chairman of the International... Read Contribution
A. C. Grayling Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University... Read Contribution	Timo Hannay Managing Director, Digital Science, Macmillan Publishers... Read Contribution
Paul Bloom Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology, Yale... Read Contribution	Giulio Boccaletti Physicist, Atmospheric and Oceanic Scientist; Partner,... Read Contribution
Brian Eno Artist; Composer; Recording Producer: U2, Coldplay,... Read Contribution	Lisa Randall Physicist, Harvard University; Author, Warped Passages;... Read Contribution
Paul Saffo Technology Forecaster; Consulting Associate Professor,... Read Contribution	Simone Schnall Director, Cambridge Embodied Cognition and Emotion... Read Contribution
Joel Gold Psychiatrist; Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry,... Read Contribution	Kai Krause Software Pioneer; Philosopher; Author, Frax: The Beauty... Read Contribution
Jon Kleinberg Professor of Computer Science, Cornell University Read Contribution	Marti Hearst Computer Scientist, UC Berkeley, School of Information;... Read Contribution
P. Murali Doriaswamy Professor of Psychiatry and Member of the Duke Institute... Read Contribution	Seth Lloyd Professor of Quantum Mechanical Engineering, MIT; Author,... Read Contribution
John C. Mather Senior Astrophysicist, Observational Cosmology... Read Contribution	Laurence C. Smith Professor of Geography, UCLA; Author, The World in 2050 Read Contribution
Melanie Swan Systems-Level Thinker; Futurist; Applied Genomics Expert;... Read Contribution	David Haig Associate Professor of Biology in Harvard's Department of... Read Contribution
Thomas Metzinger Philosophisches Seminar, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität... Read Contribution	Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Philosopher, Novelist; Author, Betraying Spinoza; 36... Read Contribution
S. Abbas Raza Founding Editor, 3QuarksDaily.com Read Contribution	Gregory Benford Professor of Physics and Astronomy, UC-Irvine; Novelist,... Read Contribution
Evgeny Morozov Contributing Editor, Foreign Policy; Syndicated... Read Contribution	Ernst Pöppel Neuroscientist; Chairman, Board of Directors Human... Read Contribution
Gary Klein Cognitive Psychologist; Author, Sources of Power;... Read Contribution	Marcelo Gleiser Theoretical Physicist, Dartmouth College; Author, A Tear... Read Contribution
Richard Saul Wurman Founder, TED Conference; eg Conference; TEDMED... Read Contribution	Bruce Parker Visiting Professor, Center for Maritime System; Author,... Read Contribution
Frank Tipler Professor of Mathematical Physics, Tulane University;... Read Contribution	Robert Sapolsky Neuroscientist, Stanford University; Author, Monkeyluv Read Contribution
Jordan Pollack Professor and Chairman of Computer Science, Brandeis... Read Contribution	Carlo Rovelli Theoretical Physicist; University of the Mediterraneum,... Read Contribution
Patrick Bateson Professor of Ethology, Cambridge University; Co-author,... Read Contribution	Charles Seife Professor of Journalism, New York University; formerly... Read Contribution
Simon Baron - Cohen Psychologist, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge... Read Contribution	Albert-lászló Barabási Complex Network Scientist; Distinguished Professor and... Read Contribution
James J O Donnell Classicist; Provost, Georgetown University; Author, The... Read Contribution	Stuart Pimm Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology; Author, The... Read Contribution
Luca De Biase Journalist; Editor, Nova 24, of Il Sole 24 Ore Read Contribution	David G. Myers Professor of Psychology, Hope College; author Psychology,... Read Contribution
Karl Sabbagh Writer and Television Producer; Author, Remembering Our... Read Contribution	Adam Alter Psychologist; Assistant Professor of Marketing, Stern... Read Contribution
Paul Steinhardt Albert Einstein Professor in Science, Departments of... Read Contribution	Gerald Smallberg Practicing Neurologist, New York City; Playwright,... Read Contribution
Gerd Gigerenzer Psychologist; Director of the Center for Adaptive... Read Contribution	Hans Ulrich Obrist Curator, Serpentine Gallery, London; Editor: A Brief... Read Contribution
Steve Giddings Theoretical physicist; Professor, Department of Physics,... Read Contribution	Katinka Matson Artist; Co-Founder, Edge.org; President, Brockman, Inc.;... Read Contribution
Alvy Ray Smith Co-founder, Pixar; Digital Imagery Pioneer & Visionary Read Contribution	Alun Anderson Senior Consultant (& former Ed-in-Chief & Publishing... Read Contribution
Benjamin K. Bergen Associate Professor, Cognitive Science, University of... Read Contribution	Beatrice Golomb Professor of Medicine at UCSD Read Contribution
Hugo Mercier Postdoc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics program at... Read Contribution	Gino Segre Professor of Physics & Astronomy, University of... Read Contribution
Eric R. Kandel Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics,... Read Contribution	Sherry Turkle Psychologist, MIT; Internet Culture Researcher; Author,... Read Contribution
Randolph Nesse Professor of Psychiatry, UM Medical School; Professor of... Read Contribution	Thomas A. Bass Professor of English at the University at Albany; Author,... Read Contribution
Marcel Kinsbourne Neurologist & Cognitive Neuroscientist, The New School;... Read Contribution	Nicholas A. Christakis Physician and Social Scientist, Harvard University;... Read Contribution
Christopher Sykes TV documentary producer Read Contribution	Philip Zimbardo Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University;... Read Contribution
Rodney A. Brooks Roboticist; Panasonic Professor of Robotics (emeritus) ,... Read Contribution	Terrence J. Sejnowski Computational Neuroscientist; Francis Crick Professor,... Read Contribution
Alison Gopnik Psychologist, UC, Berkeley; Author, The Philosophical Baby Read Contribution	Neil Gershenfeld Physicist, Director, MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms;... Read Contribution
Richard Dawkins Evolutionary Biologist; Emeritus Professor of the Public... Read Contribution	Michael I. Norton Associate Professor of Marketing, Harvard Business School Read Contribution
Roger Highfield Director, External Affairs, National Museum of Science... Read Contribution	Lee Smolin Physicist, Perimeter Institute; Author, The Trouble With... Read Contribution
Eric J. Topol, M D Professor of Genomics, The Scripps Research Institute;... Read Contribution	Elizabeth Dunn Social Psychologist, University of British Columbia Read Contribution
Frank Wilczek Physicist, MIT; Recipient, 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics;... Read Contribution	Gerald Holton Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Professor of the... Read Contribution
Todd C. Sacktor Distinguished Professor of Physiology, Pharmacology, and... Read Contribution	Robert Kurzban Psychologist, UPenn; Director, Penn Laboratory for... Read Contribution
Peter Atkins Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of Oxford;... Read Contribution	Samuel Barondes Professor of Neurobiology and Psychiatry, UCSF; Author,... Read Contribution
Judith Rich Harris Independent Investigator and Theoretician; Author, The... Read Contribution	Timothy D. Wilson Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology at the... Read Contribution
David Gelernter Computer Scientist, Yale University; Chief Scientist,... Read Contribution	Samuel Arbesman Applied Mathematician; Senior Scholar, Research and... Read Contribution
Stanislas Dehaene Neuroscientist; Collège de France, Paris; Author, The... Read Contribution	Martin Rees President, The Royal Society; Professor of Cosmology &... Read Contribution
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Psychologist; Director, Quality of Life Research Center,... Read Contribution	Freeman Dyson Professor of Physics, Institute for Advanced Study;... Read Contribution
Philip Campbell Editor-in Chief, Nature Read Contribution	Shing-tung Yau Mathematician, Harvard; Co-author, The Shape of Inner Space Read Contribution
Daniel C. Dennett Philosopher; University Professor, Co-Director, Center... Read Contribution	Victoria Stodden Computational Legal Scholar; Assistant Professor of... Read Contribution
Douglas Rushkoff Media Analyst; Documentary Writer; Author, Program or Be... Read Contribution	Leonard Susskind Felix Bloch Professor in Theoretical Physics, Stanford;... Read Contribution
Armand Marie Leroi Professor of Evolutionary Developmental Biology, Imperial... Read Contribution	James Croak Artist Read Contribution
Lawrence M. Krauss Physicist/Cosmologist, ASU; Author, A Universe from Nothing Read Contribution	Stephen M. Kosslyn Psychologist; Director, Center for Advanced Study in the... Robin S. Rosenberg Clinical Psychologist; Author, What's the Matter with Batman Read Contribution
Kevin Kelly Senior maverick, Wired, Author-What Technology Wants Read Contribution	George Church Professor, Harvard University, Director, Personal Genome... Read Contribution
Nassim Nicholas Taleb Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering, NYU-Poly;... Read Contribution	Aubrey De Grey Gerontologist; Chief Science Officer. SENS Foundation;... Read Contribution
Nigel Goldenfeld Physicist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Read Contribution	George Dyson Science Historian, Author, Turing's Cathedral: The... Read Contribution
Jennifer Jacquet Postdoctoral Researcher, Fisheries Centre/Department of... Read Contribution	Alan Alda Actor, Writer, Director; Host of PBS program The Human... Read Contribution
Tor Nørretranders Science Writer; Consultant; Lecturer, Copenhagen; Author,... Read Contribution	Irene Pepperberg Research Associate & Lecturer, Harvard; Adjunct Associate... Read Contribution
Sean Carroll Theoretical Physicist, Caltech; Author, From Eternity to... Read Contribution	Gloria Origgi Philosopher and Researcher, C.N.R.S. Paris; Author,... Read Contribution
Steven Pinker Johnstone Family Professor, Department of Psychology;... Read Contribution	Clay Shirky Social & Technology Network Topology Researcher; Adjunct... Read Contribution
Keith Devlin Executive Director, H-STAR Institute, Stanford... Read Contribution	Jonathan Gottschall English Department Washington & Jefferson College;... Read Contribution
Scott Sampson Dinosaur paleontologist and science communicator; Author,... Read Contribution	Richard Foreman Playwright & Director; Founder, The Ontological-Hysteric... Read Contribution
Jamshed Bharucha Psychologist; President, The Cooper Union for the... Read Contribution	Juan Enriquez Managing Director Excel Venture Management; Co-author,... Read Contribution
Satyajit Das Expert, Financial Derivatives and Risk; Author, Extreme... Read Contribution	Haim Harari Physicist, former President, Weizmann Institute of... Read Contribution
Peter Woit Mathematical Physicist, Columbia University; Author, Not... Read Contribution	Richard Nisbett Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan; Author,... Read Contribution
Robert Provine Psychologist and Neuroscientist, University of Maryland;... Read Contribution	Jared Diamond Professor of Geography, University of California Los... Read Contribution
Ed Regis Science writer; Author, What Is Life? Read Contribution	Clifford Pickover Author, The Physics Book: From the Big Bang to Quantum... Read Contribution
Timothy Taylor Archaeologist, University of Bradford; Author, The... Read Contribution	Arnold Trehub Psychologist, University of Massachusetts, Amherst;... Read Contribution
Roger Schank Psychologist & Computer Scientist; Engines for Education... Read Contribution	Derek Lowe Chemistry Blogger, Pipeline; Medicinal Chemist,... Read Contribution
Donald D. Hoffman Cognitive Scientist, UC, Irvine; Author, Visual Intelligence Read Contribution	Andy Clark Philosopher and Cognitive Scientist, University of... Read Contribution
David Christian Professor of History at Macquarie University, Sydney Read Contribution	Scott Atran Anthropologist, National Center for Scientific Research,... Read Contribution
Susan Blackmore Psychologist; Author, Consciousness: An Introduction Read Contribution	Nicholas G. Carr Author, The Shallows and The Big Switch Read Contribution
Michael Shermer Publisher, Skeptic magazine; monthly columnist,... Read Contribution	Rudy Rucker Mathematician, Computer Scientist; CyberPunk Pioneer;... Read Contribution
Jeremy Bernstein Professor emeritus, Stevens Institute of Technology;... Read Contribution	Howard Gardner Psychologist, Harvard University; Author,Truth, Beauty,... Read Contribution
Dylan Evans Founder and CEO of Projection Point Read Contribution	Nicholas Humphrey Emeritus School Professor, The London School of... Read Contribution
Emanuel Derman Professor, Financial Engineering, Columbia University;... Read Contribution