Love this one though:

"That we will outsource too many skills to machines."

Perhaps this one that is already partly real, no? How many drivers actually know how their cars work, at all? A tiny fraction, really. And your computer? Similar story.

Over-specialization is a related worry. My friend thinks that hyper-specialization has led to angst and despair among ordinary folk because in that world only the extraordinary and great can feel that they contribute anything meaningful. (i.e. - who the fuck cares about 99% of artists? Or, what good is one more doctor? I'm not sure I really agree, but it's a thought).

"That the human species will lose the will to survive. "

Ahem... Octavious.

"That we’ll begin to treat technology like magic."

Again, already true for many, I think. The Internet Age is quite something.

"That we will worry to much" most popular answer

The future is already here ... it just isn't very evenly distributed.

"Bob Genghiskhan"

--redhouse1938

"redhouse1938"

--MadMarx

"Sandgoose"
--jmo

Agreement with Thucydides:
China has a problem with the percentage of male to female births, (For whatever reason. You can think.)
This has resulted in a male population with many devoid of a potential female partner. Disaster.

I don't know about ya'll but number 94 was my favorite. I have no idea what it said though.

""That the human species will lose the will to survive. "

Ahem... Octavious. "

¿qué?

Out of the 150 things quite a lot of them are repeated. I've only really just glanced and "we worry too much" has come up about ten times :p.

What worries me is that the chaps in the picture above 144 are exactly what Thucy looks like in my mind's eye. What worries me even more is that my mind has bothered generating an image of Thucy!

You like numbers? 94? Who the hell's she?
Well, Mr Angel, we were expecting you to have a little sense. Probably a wasted notion. Never mind. Never mind.

What worries me even more than all that is that the 150 Things the World's Smartest People are Afraid Of is a list of 151...

The fact that I repeated maniac's coment about "we worry too much", on the other hand, doesn't bother me in the least.


(it does really... damn it!)

@Octavious:
"That the human species will lose the will to survive."
That's exactly how I feel. Exactly how I am feeling.

You're Scottish, aren't you? Isn't that normal?

I was more concerned as to why that one made Thucy think of me :p

We lost the will to survive after we saw the Romans fall down behind their walls and saw that,despite their forces, they were f*cked. I think we lost the will after that because . . .

because of haggis?

We're getting off subject . . .

Yes the haggis lost the war..They took the lang, wrang way doon the hillside. Despite their attempts, they fell a' oerthemselves. and ended up on your table, Lord and Lady Balblair.

Back to subject: What are you afraid of smart, simple, anybody people?

(Question of what makes you be seen to be smart may come up later.)

Because haven't you questioned the idea of generational equity in the past on the grounds that humanity shouldn't worry about becoming extinct? Sounds to me like you don't care too much about whether humanity has the will to survive, which would be a realization of that person's worry.

But I digress. Even if that wasn't you, there are certainly people on this site and in this world that think that.

Also, lol at your image of me. This is what I actually look like dude straight off fb:

http://imgur.com/EMyZvT8

No, it comes up right now. 'Smart' What does this mean?

Which one are you?

the shrub in the bottom right

Pretty sure that must have been someone else... I'm more of a "humanity's survival is worth any cost" kind of man, although I am quite convinced that if your vision of a perfect future ever came true we probably will lose the will to live ;). But lets not go there tonight :)!

@Thucidides
Small girls or tall guy? How can one judge?

its all a matter of perspective....


...also i'm 6'4"

and octavious, haven't you questioned the whole idea of worrying about caring about "humanity" in general? how can you say that and then say that you care about the survival of the species?

One can guess. It reminds me of a few photos of me from my OODS days. Strangely almost all girls in the Out Of Doors Society were quite short...

I wonder whether that's random chance or a genuine thing?

That fact that I ask questions like that worries me aswell :(

@ Thucy

I have questioned thew virtue of worrying about humanity as a whole when many of our neighbours are in desperate need. It's more a case of localism above all else. A focusing of our worry and love where it can do the most good. If such an attitude were adopted across the globe I am convinced humanity would be in good shape.

I'd work from the feet up and if I met balls, I'd guess a guy. Goodbye. Meet something warm and wet, maybe not yet, then I'm willin'.

Such a vision would be fine if the world was equal across borders, you ask me. But as it stands the citizens of some countries are more fortunate than others - this begs a concern for humanity as a whole, being in such a condition.

Someone else is the one that was talking about self-extinction though. Glad that wasn't you.... I find that far worse than your... shall we say... doctrines.

I'm glad to know I'm the lesser of the evils, Thucy. Or am I disappointed...?

Perhaps both :)

Hey Octavious,
I'm thinking. It needs to be pruned down to to the essence.

Well it's not all dehumanization in online forums, you should know.

Providing a photo of oneself is another way to sort of... break down the wall of text. Lol.

@Octa: "I am convinced humanity would be in good shape."
Yes, of course. However, it's never going to happen in our lifetime cos they'se all crazy.

ok work on pic

am i the only that's not quite sure what timur has been talking about this whole time

I read through all the answers (well, some I skimmed if I figured out what the person was saying and wasn't interested -- like the physicists who were worried about losing funding). I was pretty interested in what seemed to be the predominant common theme: the unintended effects of technology on society and human behavior. I think this is a cause for profound concern, and I'm happy that a lot of these people thought so, too (in varying ways, obviously). I would have expected climate change or backward thinking or something to get more attention, but they both got much less than this family of concerns.

That's because I think most of them assume that everyone already knows those are problems and people are working on them already, whereas these "worrisome" problems are ones that no one is really ready for.

Probably true. Anyway, as I said, it was oddly relieving to see that so many of them WERE aware of this issue. Not that anything can necessarily be done about it, but still, some better decisions might be made at key points if people are at least aware of that spectrum of issues.