On the edge

Each year, the Edge Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to “promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic and literary issues” poses a thought-provoking question in its World Question Center.

The questions, which the BBC describes as “the crack cocaine of the thinking world,” really do prompt serious reflection and, at times, even soul-searching. They would be ideal conversation starters around the dinner table, at the beginning of a small group, or during a long roadtrip.

If you want to read all the questions and answers, you can find them here, but good luck; hundreds of contributors write essays short and long (mostly long) in response to each annual question.

Instead, I’m interested in your answers, so with the previous three paragraphs having given appropriate credit to the original, I’ll occasionally copy one of the questions here and invite your response. Here’s the first one, from this year’s edition: What have you changed your mind about? Why?