HOUSE OVERSIGHT 023455 >> PRESS EMBARGO UNTIL PUBLICATION (12am EST, Sunday, January 15th). DO NOT CITE OR CIRCULATE >> "We'd certainly be better off if everyone sampled the fabulous EDGE symposium, which, like the best in science, is modest and daring all at once." >> — David Brooks, THE NEW YORK TIMES >> >> >> >> Scientists' greatest pleasure comes from theories that derive the solution to some deep puzzle from a small set of simple principles in a surprising way. These explanations are called "beautiful" or "elegant". Historical examples are Kepler's explanation of complex planetary motions as simple ellipses, Bohr's explanation of the periodic table of the elements in terms of electron shells, and Watson and Crick's double helix. Einstein famously said that he did not need experimental confirmation of his general theory of relativity because it "was so beautiful it had to be true." >> The EDGE Question 2012 >> WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION? >> Since this question is about explanation, answers may embrace scientific thinking in the broadest sense: as the most reliable way of gaining knowledge about anything, including other fields of inquiry such as philosophy, mathematics, economics, history, political theory, literary theory, or the human spirit. The only requirement is that some simple and non-obvious idea explain some diverse and complicated set of phenomena. >> [Thanks to Steven Pinker for suggesting this year's EDGE Question and to Stewart Brand, Kevin Kelly, and George Dyson for their ongoing advice and support.] >> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> "Open-minded, free ranging, intellectually playful ... an unadorned pleasure in curiosity, a collective expression of wonder at the living and inanimate world ... an ongoing and thrilling colloquium." >> —Ian McEwan in THE TELEGRAPH >>-------------------------------------------------