science

The Next Fifty Years

The Next Fifty Years is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Next Fifty Years rather than just read about it. In short: The Next Fifty Years: Science in the First Half of the Twenty-First Century is a 2002 collection of essays by twenty-five well-known scientists, edited by Edge Foundation founder John Brockman, who wrote the introduction. The essays contain speculation by the authors about the scientific and technological advances that are likely to occur in their various fields in the first half of the 21st century.

Key takeaways

The Next Fifty Years belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Next Fifty Years to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Next Fifty Years from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Next Fifty Years: Science in the First Half of the Twenty-First Century is a 2002 collection of essays by twenty-five well-known scientists, edited by Edge Foundation founder John Brockman, who wrote the introduction. The essays contain speculation by the authors about the scientific and technological advances that are likely to occur in their various fields in the first half of the 21st century. The collection is divided into two parts; the twelve essays in Part One are devoted to more theoretical speculation, whereas the thirteen essays in Part Two discuss the possible practical applications of scientific and technological advance. The contributing scientists are:

Lee Smolin, The Future of the Nature of the Universe Martin Rees, Cosmological Challenges: Are We Alone, and Where? Ian Stewart, The Mathematics of 2050 Brian Goodwin, In the Shadow of Culture Marc D. Hauser, Swappable Minds Alison Gopnik, What Children Will Teach Scientists Paul Bloom, Toward a Theory of Moral Development Geoffrey Miller, The Science of Subtlety Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Future of Happiness Robert M. Sapolsky, Will We Still Be Sad Fifty Years from Now? Steven Strogatz, Fermi's "Little Discovery" and the Future of Chaos and Complexity Theory Stuart Kauffman, What Is Life? Richard Dawkins, Son of Moore's Law Paul Davies, Was There a Second Genesis? John H. Holland, What Is to Come and How to Predict It? Rodney Brooks, The Merger of Flesh and Machines Peter Atkins, The Future of Matter Roger C. Schank, Are We Going to Get Smarter? Jaron Lanier, The Complexity Ceiling David Gelernter, Tapping Into the Beam Joseph E. LeDoux, Mind, Brain, and Self Judith Rich Harris, What Makes Us the Way We Are: The View from 2050 Samuel Barondes, Drugs, DNA, and the Analyst's Couch Nancy Etcoff, Brain Scans, Wearables, and Brief Encounters Paul W. Ewald, Mastering Disease

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Next Fifty Years

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Next Fifty Years claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Next Fifty Years before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Next Fifty Years ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Next Fifty Years

In research: The Next Fifty Years appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Next Fifty Years in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Next Fifty Years is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2002 non-fiction books, Books by John Brockman, Futures studies stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Next Fifty Years outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Next Fifty Years in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Next Fifty Years means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Next Fifty Years out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Next Fifty Years in simple terms?

Why does The Next Fifty Years matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Next Fifty Years?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Next Fifty Years.