A fantastic marathon of asking deep questions has now come to an end. Literary agent, publisher, editor and intellectual enzyme  John Brockman has now closed his famous series of World Question Centre annual questions asked to a curated group of scientists, writers and other Third Culture intellectuals – resulting in presentation at the website Edge.org and followed by publication in book format.

The last question, of course, was the most challenging of them all: ”

For the 50th anniversary of “The World Question Center,” and for the finale to the twenty years of Edge Questions, I turned it over to the Edgies: “Ask ‘The Last Question,’ your last question, the question for which you will be remembered.”

John Brockman and hat

As John explained his request: “Come up with a big, deep and ambitious question, breathtaking in scope, that at once is worthy of ‘the world’s smartestwebsite,’ and which year after year reminds us of how wondrous our world is.”

The result is now up at the Edge website and will also be available in the book The Last Unknowns described by Süddeutsche Zeitung as “One of the most exciting reading streams ever.”