What Are You Optimistic About?

Brian Randolph Greene (born February 9, 1963) is an American physicist known for his research on string theory. He is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, director of its center for theoretical physics, and the chairman of the World Science Festival, which he co-founded in 2008. Greene co-discovered mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi–Yau manifolds. He also described the flop transition, a mild form of topology change, and the conifold transition, a more seve...

Jared Mason Diamond is an American scientist and author best known for his popular science books.

John Brockman is an author and literary agent who specializes in books about science and big ideas. He's well-known for curating collections of essays from top thinkers, including What Are You Optimistic About?

Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was the Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University. He is noted for his work in the study of happiness and creativity, but is best known as the architect of the notion of flow, a highly focused mental state. Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association, described Csikszentmihalyi as the world's leading researcher on positive psychology. Csikszentmihalyi once said: "Repr...

Steven Arthur "Steve" Pinker is a Canadian-born American cognitive scientist, psychologist, linguist, and popular science author. He is Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, and is known for his advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind.