2009 Edge Question

This year's question, answered by hundreds of professors, scientists, writers, etc.: "What will change everything? What game-changing scientific ideas and developments do you expect to live and see?"

Some pretty interesting answers. My favorite is Alison Gopnik's "Never-ending childhood." He predicts that a new information economy will result in a longer period of learning because people will be well-off enough to just spend time thinking about stuff: "universal and extended schooling means that the period of flexible learning and dependence can continue until we are in our thirties."