Many of the things the slow food people honor were innovations within historical times. Somebody had to be the first European to eat a tomato.
Nathan MyhrvoldElections, for their part, are typically popularity contests rather than measures of candidates' relative competency or effectiveness. Imagine if scientific truth were determined according to which scientist was most popular. To be successful, scientists would have to be charismatic and attractive - and human knowledge would suffer terribly.
Nathan MyhrvoldMost estimates of the mortality risk posed by asteroid impacts put it at about the same risk as flying in a commercial airliner. However, you have to remember that this is like the entire human race riding the plane - it is one of the few risks that really could wipe us all out.
Nathan MyhrvoldNo CEO ever says, 'Damnit, we need to increase research!' I want to encourage them to do that.
Nathan Myhrvold