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Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse: Contemplating the Future with Noam Chomsky, George Carlin, Deepak Chopra, Rupert Sheldrake, and Others
In his latest interview collection, David Jay Brown has once again gathered some of the most interesting minds of today to consider the future of the human race, the mystery of consciousness, the evolution of technology, psychic phenomena, and more. The book includes conversations with celebrated visionaries and inspirational figures such as Ram Dass, Noam Chomsky, Deepak Chopra, and George Carlin. Part scientific exploration, part philosophical speculation, and part intellectual rollercoaster, the free-form discussions are original and captivating, and offer surprising revelations. Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse is a new look into the minds of some of our groundbreaking leaders and is the perfect gift for science fiction and philosophy fans alike.
288 pages, ebook
First published June 6, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
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February 8, 2009This Carlin quote on Gus' Facebook page was enough to make me want to read this book:
Once you leave the womb, conservatives don't care about you until you reach military age. Then you're just what they're looking for. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers.
*I miss George.*
Once you leave the womb, conservatives don't care about you until you reach military age. Then you're just what they're looking for. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers.
*I miss George.*
May 12, 2012
Brown's opening paragraph sums up the contemporary metapredicament nicely:
Unfortunately, Brown doesn't have quite the interviewing chops necessary to rise the bar he sets with this introduction and the title. Which is not to say that this isn't an interesting read. It was interesting, enraging, thought-provoking, challenging, and even funny. That Brown managed to score interviews with many of these luminaries—including Noam Chomsky, George Carlin, Robert Anton Wilson, Douglas Rushkoff, Clifford Pickover, Bruce Sterling, Ray Kurzweil, Alex Grey, and Kary Mullis—is impressive in itself, and he is a brave/stupid enough interviewer to ask questions about psychedelics and alien abduction to Chomsky. He asks similar (and sometimes exactly the same) questions to different interviewees and usually in the same order. This allows the reader to compare the different worldviews articulated by the interviewees, I guess, but by the end of the book it was coming across as canned and tedious technique. Luckily, the range of personalities encountered and ideas explored was vast, with lots of intelligence and clarity of thought, but little overarching agreement, about topics as diverse as our contemporary media ecology, ecological collapse, artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, the Singularity, psychedelics, alien abductions, spiritual transformation, and the existence of God.
The future has never looked brighter or more bleak. Never before in human history has there been so much cause for both hope and alarm. We are living in a world of increasing uncertainty, and each day brings new reasons for both celebration and concern. Are we headed toward a glistening new world of technological marvels and wonders or own extinction?
Unfortunately, Brown doesn't have quite the interviewing chops necessary to rise the bar he sets with this introduction and the title. Which is not to say that this isn't an interesting read. It was interesting, enraging, thought-provoking, challenging, and even funny. That Brown managed to score interviews with many of these luminaries—including Noam Chomsky, George Carlin, Robert Anton Wilson, Douglas Rushkoff, Clifford Pickover, Bruce Sterling, Ray Kurzweil, Alex Grey, and Kary Mullis—is impressive in itself, and he is a brave/stupid enough interviewer to ask questions about psychedelics and alien abduction to Chomsky. He asks similar (and sometimes exactly the same) questions to different interviewees and usually in the same order. This allows the reader to compare the different worldviews articulated by the interviewees, I guess, but by the end of the book it was coming across as canned and tedious technique. Luckily, the range of personalities encountered and ideas explored was vast, with lots of intelligence and clarity of thought, but little overarching agreement, about topics as diverse as our contemporary media ecology, ecological collapse, artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, the Singularity, psychedelics, alien abductions, spiritual transformation, and the existence of God.
February 21, 2009
There are a lot of typos and some iffy continuity problems in every interview. The questions are all basically the same. Oh, and aside from my love of George Carlin and Robert Anton Wilson, most of these interviews were bumbling and ridiculous. If you want to get the gist of Rupert Sheldrake's ideas, listen to some of his lectures or read one of his books. The same applies to everyone else. If you want to be bludgeoned over the head with the possibility of paranormal activity, then read this book. At any rate, buckle up and brace yourself for numerous brief and inconclusive references to varying degrees of spooky shit which everyone can wax amicably about but cannot quite spin into working proposals (metaphysical or otherwise).
Slight Hyperbole: "Like the world is an Easter bunny that just consumes and keeps dropping these pellets of spiritual carnage, i.e. soulless consumption... ego death... in the 60's... the plight of the artist... a lawnmower... five dollars? Get out of here..."
Slight Hyperbole: "Like the world is an Easter bunny that just consumes and keeps dropping these pellets of spiritual carnage, i.e. soulless consumption... ego death... in the 60's... the plight of the artist... a lawnmower... five dollars? Get out of here..."
April 22, 2008
What a crew! Like moths buzzing around the flame of doom! Scary, but really a nonsensical book. Rupert, how could you?
July 15, 2021
To have so many typos, this is an excellent book for those seeking to understand a variety of perspectives from different points of view.
This is a series of interviews. The author interviews many famous and accomplished people, and asks each of them basically the same open-ended questions: What does the future of the world look like?
Some of the people he interviews are super-geniuses. Some of them are quacks.
From computer and AI experts, to Yogis/spiritual gurus, to biologists... He even interviews George Carlin, one of the greatest comedians of all time.
If you are looking for something straightforward, this isn't it.
But if you like to bounce ideas around just to play with them before you decide whether or not they have merit or if they are garbage ideas - there is plenty here with which to play.
In each interview, you will quickly decide whether or not you like the person. That's part of the fun.
A fast and easy read.
This is a series of interviews. The author interviews many famous and accomplished people, and asks each of them basically the same open-ended questions: What does the future of the world look like?
Some of the people he interviews are super-geniuses. Some of them are quacks.
From computer and AI experts, to Yogis/spiritual gurus, to biologists... He even interviews George Carlin, one of the greatest comedians of all time.
If you are looking for something straightforward, this isn't it.
But if you like to bounce ideas around just to play with them before you decide whether or not they have merit or if they are garbage ideas - there is plenty here with which to play.
In each interview, you will quickly decide whether or not you like the person. That's part of the fun.
A fast and easy read.
September 2, 2024
Interviewing some of the greatest minds of all time and putting it into book form should be really hard to screw up. Unfortunately the author didn't quite have the interviewing skills to keep up with these mental titans and sort of fell back to a pre-written set of questions a lot of the time, especially with some of the interviewees you could tell he either didn't like or agree with. Could have been so much more.
February 16, 2019
Lo mollo.
L'intervistatore è in fissa per le teorie di un tizio che ha letto, qualcosa parecchio più primitivo e rozzo di un biocentrismo, e cerca di infilare le opinioni appena formate in bocca agli intervistati.
Per il resto fuori tema per quasi tutto il libro che sono arrivato a leggere.
Cieeeoooo
L'intervistatore è in fissa per le teorie di un tizio che ha letto, qualcosa parecchio più primitivo e rozzo di un biocentrismo, e cerca di infilare le opinioni appena formate in bocca agli intervistati.
Per il resto fuori tema per quasi tutto il libro che sono arrivato a leggere.
Cieeeoooo
September 2, 2020
very thought provoking from many wise people
September 15, 2024
Not as good as it could have been ...
... I think fewer contributors and more depth would have helped ...
... I think fewer contributors and more depth would have helped ...
January 8, 2022
(From the Italian translation of the book).
Qui si mettono insieme le interviste ad alcuni personaggi di un certo spicco del panorama culturale americano. L'intervistatore e curatore della raccolta, oltre a proporre una breve biografia di ciascun personaggio, propone una manciata predefinita e ricorrente di domande, con assai poca variazione e indipendentemente dall'interlocutore. I temi sono: la preoccupazione per le sorti dell'umanità, l'importanza delle esperienze psichedeliche, la speranza, dio, l'esistenza di una teleologia nell'evoluzione e poco altro.
Per fortuna il parterre di personaggi contiene figure molto interessanti e in ogni caso non banali. Sono a tutti gli effetti loro che fanno il libro, con i loro pseudo-monologhi raccordati dalle scarne domande dell'intervistatore. Offrono punti di vista interessanti, spaccati esistenziali eccezionali, conoscenze sorprendenti.
Il mazzo si compone così di pareri anche in opposizione, e non mancano le idiosincrasie. Come ogni libro del genere, il lettore è sollazzato da schemi argomentativi che rischiano di vincerne l'accordo più per la coerenza del sistema espositivo che per i contenuti delle argomentazioni. Pertanto questo e simili libri sono importanti anche o soprattutto come esercizio di elasticità mentale, in cui le idee devono essere pesate e rimuginate per bene per non essere trangugiate indifferentemente. Rupert Sheldrake, George Carlin, Jeff McBride, Dean Radin, Bruce Sterling e molti altri si alternano in questa specie di corsa ad ostacoli per la vigilità del lettore.
Detto questo, l'intervistatore ha poco più del merito di aver riunito questi attori sul proscenio. Non siamo infatti al livello di "Incontri con menti straordinarie", non tanto appunto per il calibro degli intervistati, quanto per l'interazione dialettica dell'intervistatore, qui ridotta al lumicino. Certo, non si può essere tutti Odifreddi, e il lettore intuisce che Brown sa piuttosto bene chi abbia davanti, ma non incalza nè stimola quanto potrebbe o dovrebbe.
Un ricco teatro di personaggi eccentrici messi in cerchio con non troppa partecipazione.
[Commento alla rilettura] Il libro risale al 2004/2005 (epoca di Bush Jr. in USA) e rileggerlo a distanza (senza rendersi conto di averlo letto gia' una decade fa) e' stato affascinante per avere un'impressione di come le paure, le anticipazioni, le aspirazioni, e la saggezza compressa nel tomo possano attualizzarsi, rimanere (in)attuali, morire d'inveramento (cit., Eco) o afferire a livelli di consapevolezza che si possono approcciare solo asimptoticamente. Occorre ora trovare un equivalente di questa collezione per la terza decade del XXI secolo.
Qui si mettono insieme le interviste ad alcuni personaggi di un certo spicco del panorama culturale americano. L'intervistatore e curatore della raccolta, oltre a proporre una breve biografia di ciascun personaggio, propone una manciata predefinita e ricorrente di domande, con assai poca variazione e indipendentemente dall'interlocutore. I temi sono: la preoccupazione per le sorti dell'umanità, l'importanza delle esperienze psichedeliche, la speranza, dio, l'esistenza di una teleologia nell'evoluzione e poco altro.
Per fortuna il parterre di personaggi contiene figure molto interessanti e in ogni caso non banali. Sono a tutti gli effetti loro che fanno il libro, con i loro pseudo-monologhi raccordati dalle scarne domande dell'intervistatore. Offrono punti di vista interessanti, spaccati esistenziali eccezionali, conoscenze sorprendenti.
Il mazzo si compone così di pareri anche in opposizione, e non mancano le idiosincrasie. Come ogni libro del genere, il lettore è sollazzato da schemi argomentativi che rischiano di vincerne l'accordo più per la coerenza del sistema espositivo che per i contenuti delle argomentazioni. Pertanto questo e simili libri sono importanti anche o soprattutto come esercizio di elasticità mentale, in cui le idee devono essere pesate e rimuginate per bene per non essere trangugiate indifferentemente. Rupert Sheldrake, George Carlin, Jeff McBride, Dean Radin, Bruce Sterling e molti altri si alternano in questa specie di corsa ad ostacoli per la vigilità del lettore.
Detto questo, l'intervistatore ha poco più del merito di aver riunito questi attori sul proscenio. Non siamo infatti al livello di "Incontri con menti straordinarie", non tanto appunto per il calibro degli intervistati, quanto per l'interazione dialettica dell'intervistatore, qui ridotta al lumicino. Certo, non si può essere tutti Odifreddi, e il lettore intuisce che Brown sa piuttosto bene chi abbia davanti, ma non incalza nè stimola quanto potrebbe o dovrebbe.
Un ricco teatro di personaggi eccentrici messi in cerchio con non troppa partecipazione.
[Commento alla rilettura] Il libro risale al 2004/2005 (epoca di Bush Jr. in USA) e rileggerlo a distanza (senza rendersi conto di averlo letto gia' una decade fa) e' stato affascinante per avere un'impressione di come le paure, le anticipazioni, le aspirazioni, e la saggezza compressa nel tomo possano attualizzarsi, rimanere (in)attuali, morire d'inveramento (cit., Eco) o afferire a livelli di consapevolezza che si possono approcciare solo asimptoticamente. Occorre ora trovare un equivalente di questa collezione per la terza decade del XXI secolo.
September 16, 2010
CONVERSATIONS ON THE EDGE OF APOCALYPSE: CONTEMPLATING HE FUTURE WITH NOAM CHOMSKY, GEORGE CARLIN, DEEPAK CHOPRA, RUPERT SHELDRAKE, AND OTHERS EDITED BY DAVID JAY BROWN: Conversations on the Edge of Apocalypse is an interesting collection of interviews with a cornucopia of renowned people from all walks of life, although this group seems to consist mainly of scientists, Buddhists, and people of other alternative believes than Western Christian world.
While there's not really must I can say that the book gives the reader on the whole, there are a lot of interesting individual details with each person. Some I skipped past, because it just wasn't my cup of tea, or rather I had absolutely no inkling of belief in this person's seemingly crazy ideas. All the scientists were extremely interesting, giving up to date news of what they're working on: the cure for AIDS is around the corner, according to one of these scientists. A couple of the interesting questions Brown asked each person was: Do you think the human race will survive the next hundred years? And, essentially: What happens to you after you die. The general consensus to human survival is that we will survive the next hundred years (and according to some scientists, with upcoming advances in longevity, a lot of us will be around to see it!), so long as we don't blow ourself up with outright nuclear war or a bioweapons war, or SARS, of course. As for the latter question, the funny thing was that every single person first answered with "I don't know." Then they want on to give their afterlife beliefs, but it was just amusing to have everyone preface their ideas with the "I don't know" disclaimer.
On the whole, it's a book I recommend to people to read, just to read the variety of ideas from people in the world today, for all areas, and it opens one's mind and helps you understand that everyone doesn't think the same thing.
If you liked this review, and would like to read more, go to BookBanter.
While there's not really must I can say that the book gives the reader on the whole, there are a lot of interesting individual details with each person. Some I skipped past, because it just wasn't my cup of tea, or rather I had absolutely no inkling of belief in this person's seemingly crazy ideas. All the scientists were extremely interesting, giving up to date news of what they're working on: the cure for AIDS is around the corner, according to one of these scientists. A couple of the interesting questions Brown asked each person was: Do you think the human race will survive the next hundred years? And, essentially: What happens to you after you die. The general consensus to human survival is that we will survive the next hundred years (and according to some scientists, with upcoming advances in longevity, a lot of us will be around to see it!), so long as we don't blow ourself up with outright nuclear war or a bioweapons war, or SARS, of course. As for the latter question, the funny thing was that every single person first answered with "I don't know." Then they want on to give their afterlife beliefs, but it was just amusing to have everyone preface their ideas with the "I don't know" disclaimer.
On the whole, it's a book I recommend to people to read, just to read the variety of ideas from people in the world today, for all areas, and it opens one's mind and helps you understand that everyone doesn't think the same thing.
If you liked this review, and would like to read more, go to BookBanter.
November 28, 2008
While it's clear that David Jay Brown is friendly to those who have frequently enjoyed altered states of consciousness, and the editing feels spotty at times, he interviews some fascinating people and asks some challenging questions that inspire provocative answers. One of my favorite interviews is with Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who experienced a profound awakening of consciousness while walking on moon (yeah, I can see how that would happen) and founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences -- you can learn more about the organization at http://www.noetic.org/about/founder.cfm
May 31, 2012
As to be expected with a series of conversations with some quite divergent thinkers, some parts of this collection are more thought provoking/credible/rewarding than others. But even the least interesting are worth engaging with - and overall the book gives several pauses for thought.
December 11, 2007
An interesting crossroads of thinkers and ideas, you can't help but to re-evaluate your old and assimilate some new perspectives into your life's conversation.
September 25, 2009
This is a book you'll re-read, time and time again.
Many very interesting interview to create a comprehensive zeitgeist. Loved it. Have to read it again.
Many very interesting interview to create a comprehensive zeitgeist. Loved it. Have to read it again.
March 20, 2015
Excellent. Unexpected answers to serious life questions by some of the world's leaders. Compare their answers to your own. What do YOU think?
April 1, 2010
Very academic, lots of inclusion of discussion by world-renowned scientists about the paranormal, spirituality, and quantum physics. A great, if not challenging, read.
November 9, 2010
I was entertained with the different thoughts on the human conscience and how little I know about science.
March 5, 2013
Please read it...
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews