John Horgan featured in Wall Street Journal and IEEE Spectrum

HOBOKEN , N.J. ― John Horgan , Director of the Center for Science Writings at Stevens Institute of Technology, recently published articles in TheWall Street Journal and IEEE Spectrum, on how science and technology will shape the future.

In his Wall Street Journal article, Horgan reviews the new book, Year Million: Science at the Far Edge of Knowledge, edited by Australian science writer Damien Broderick. The book contains essay by 14 writers from all backgrounds contemplating the world and our species a million years from now. Although some writers warn that our world may be wiped out by a number of threats, most feel that we will not only survive but will become unbelievably intelligent and alien compared to our present selves. Due to nanotechnology and medical research our descendents could live forever and have chips inside their heads allowing them to connect to the internet and communicate telepathically. Our descendents may even be able to change form at will.

Horgan questions whether our descendants with such fantastic intelligence would solve the world’s problems, amuse themselves with past entertainments or simply grow bored. His review discusses all of these points of view with a scientific and amused outlook.

Horgan is also featured in the June issue of IEEE Spectrum, the flagship publication of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The issue explores an increasingly popular concept called the Singularity, which predicts that advances in computer science, nanotechnology and other fields will soon produce machine s with superhuman intelligence. Horgan’s article, “The Consciousness Conundrum,” argues that believers in the Singularity underestimate the complexity of the brain and mind.

Horgan is an award-winning science journalist whose articles have been selected for The Best American Science and Nature Writing in 2005, 2006 and 2007 . A former senior writer at Scientific American, he has also written for publications including The New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times , and New Scientist. His books include The End of Science, a bestseller, and Rational Mysticism. His awards include the 2005 Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowship in Science and Religion; the American Psychiatric Association Certificate of Commendation for Outstanding Reporting on Psychiatric Issues (1997); the Science Journalism Award of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1992 and 1994); and the National Association of Science Writers Science-in-Society Award (1993).

To view John Horgan ’s WSJ review and see an excerpt from the book visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121331769665370259.html?mod=googlenews_wsj. To read his Spectrum article visit http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jun08/6280. To learn more about Horgan, visit http://www.johnhorgan.org.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,040 undergraduate and 3,085 graduate students, and a worldwide online enrollment of 2,250, with a full-time tenured/tenure-track faculty of 140 and more than 200 full-time special faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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