Can the Internet Save Civilization? Seriously April 20, 2010

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/04/01/Six_Easy_Steps_to_Avert_the_Collapse_of_Civilization

Neuroscientist David Eagleman outlines the Internet's potential to be utilized as a powerful tool to prevent the spread of epidemic disease. By reducing human-to-human contact through telepresence and telemedicine, as well as by charting search queries, Eagleman is confident the Internet is civilization's "key to survival."

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Neuroscientist and fiction writer David Eagleman presents "Six Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization." Civilizations always think they're immortal, Eagleman says, but they nearly always perish, leaving "nothing but ruins and scattered genetics." It takes luck and new technology to survive. We may be particularly lucky to have Internet technology to help manage the six requirements of a durable civilization.

But if the Net is so crucial, what happens if the Net goes down? It may have to go down a few times before we learn how to defend it properly, before we catch on that civilization depends on it for survival. - The Long Now Foundation

David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and a fiction writer. During the day, he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law at Baylor College of Medicine. He is best known for his work on time perception, synesthesia, and neurolaw.