Eve is widely known as the author of human rebellion and recklessness. But her story is also characterized by courage and curiosity. Indeed, although the academy doesn’t have patron saints, if it did, Eve—with her openness to taking great risk for the great reward of increased knowledge—would almost certainly be one of them. 

Several of the pieces in this issue of inquisitive nod to this more positive view of the Bible’s first woman. In our lead essay, “The Forbidden Fruit of Uncomfortable Ideas,” Barbara Oakley reminds us that our “irresistible need to know,” exemplified by Eve’s act of defiance in eating the forbidden fruit, “has fueled virtually all human progress throughout history.” Oakley goes on to argue that our inheritance from Eve should prompt us to always be open to difficult ideas and to a willingness to respectfully listen to those with whom we disagree.

In “The Hero’s Journey,” Bryan Gentry also pays tribute to “Mother Eve,” as Brigham Young once called her, for choosing the challenging path. Calling Eve’s tale “a hero’s journey,” Gentry explains that Mormons see her story as a reminder that no knowledge should be forbidden. 

Other essays in this issue look at the word “eve” through a different lens, as the moment right before something is going to happen, be it as simple as the coming of night or as complex as the dawn of a new society-altering technology. 

In “Adam’s First Eve,” Philip Getz and Daniel Levner examine both these simple and complex eves, comparing Adam’s reaction to the world’s first evening to our current concerns about the arrival of artificial intelligence. Getz and Levner point out that while the coming of evening filled the first man with terror and guilt, the sun rising on the next morning reassured him that all was well. 

No such reassurance is likely to be in store for us today, the authors argue, as the night AI brings to humanity may well be permanent. Drawing upon the urgent and dire warnings in the recently published bestseller, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, Getz and Levner argue that once AI researchers develop machines with super intelligence (intelligence greater than ours), “we humans can hardly imagine inhabiting a world alongside it.”

Finally, our issue moves from the future to the recent past with an essay by Heterodox Academy co-founder Jonathan Haidt commemorating HxA’s 10th anniversary with some history of how and why the organization was founded and how it has evolved over the last decade. While HxA has changed to adapt to new challenges, Haidt writes, it has always remained true to its founding principles of “promoting a culture of free inquiry and fearless scholarship” in higher education.

These principles undergird all of the work in this issue and will continue to guide the magazine going forward. After all, that’s why it’s called inquisitive. And speaking of going forward, please consider pitching ideas for our summer issue, which will be centered on the theme of “camp.”