But What If We're Wrong?

But What If We’re Wrong? is a book of original, reported, interconnected pieces that speculate on the likelihood that many universally accepted, deeply ingrained cultural and scientific beliefs will someday seem absurd. Covering a vast spectrum of objective and subjective topics, the book attempts to visualize present-day society the way it will be viewed in a distant future. Klosterman cites original interviews with a wide variety of thinkers and experts—including the likes of George Saunders, David Byrne, Jonathan Lethem, Alex Ross, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Junot Díaz, Amanda Petrusich, Ryan Adams, Dan Carlin, Nick Bostrom, and Richard Linklater.

Klosterman asks straightforward questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How certain are we about our understanding of time? What will be the defining memory of rock ’n’ roll, five hundred years from today? Are all team sports destined for extinction? How seriously should we view the content of our dreams? How seriously should we view the content of television? What contemporary literature will be canonized (and how will it be selected)? How is history constructed (and how much can it be trusted)? Is it possible we “overrate” democracy and freedom? And, most disturbingly, is it possible we’ve reached “the end of new knowledge”?

The answers Klosterman explores and integrates with his own analysis generate the most thought-provoking and propulsive book of his career.