Really cool article, probably the coolest I've read in the last 12 months:

http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_index.html

I particularly like:
http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_9.html#miller
http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_10.html#bodanis
http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_12.html#ewald
http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_8.html#strogatz

Geez, you have to have the Einstein Professorship at Priceton to figure this out?
http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_7.html#steinhardt
I knew that already.

Technological advancement and the fact it can begin to hack/muck with the very notion of humanity is the most dangerous of these ideas. Ghost In The Shell, the japanese anime series, explores this beautifully, and almost tangibly. The notion we will have varying degrees of direct cybernetic human-computer interfacing, added to the fact our mastery of biology and genetics that will allow the engineering of humanity is truly the most dangerous of ideas in the coming century.