Billions of Curious Minds

“The major Internet and space technology corporations, among others, have confirmed multi-billion-dollar investments to bring low-cost broadband Internet to every square meter of Earth’s surface within ten years. They are building the railway tracks and freeways of the 21st century — but at global scale, and with breathtaking speed.

Five billion human minds are therefore about to come online, mostly via sub-$50 smartphones. And unlike the two billion who preceded them, their first experience of the Internet may not be clunky text, but high-resolution video and a fast connection to whatever grabs their imagination.” [1]

“First, we created our computers, then we networked them together, and now we are giving them sensory organs to observe — and manipulate — the physical world in the service of science. And thanks to the phenomenon described by Moore’s law, sensor cost/performance is racing ahead as rapidly as chip performance. Ask any amateur astronomer: for a few thousand dollars, they can purchase digital cameras that were beyond the reach of observatories a decade ago.” [2]

“This democratization of science changes everything because it means we have unleashed billions of minds to solve problems and create solutions.” [3]

Each of these quotes came from separate essay responses to the annual Edge Question: What Do You Consider the Most Interesting Recent [Scientific] News? What Makes It Important?

1. Chris Anderson, The Breathtaking Future of a Connected World
2. Paul Saffo, Sensors: Accelerating The Pace Of Scientific Discovery
3. Michael Shermer, The Democratization of Science

I remixed the quotes in a biased way. The overlap of these ideas creates a unique response to the question, and something close to how I would of answered.

Billions of curious minds are about to be unleashed on scientific problems. It will require us to rethink our scientific institutions, and broaden our ideas about who can participate in the process of discovery. Science wants to be open.