The Private Eye is a comic book that came out a few years ago. It predicts the global collapse of the internet after the cloud "bursts", annihilating the concept of privacy. As a result, the internet disappears and people only appear in public masked to safeguard whatever privacy they have left.
While this dystopian future seems to be ever more likely everyday as we dump all our lives in the cloud, in some weird sense reality has already starting catching to fiction: there is a new scientific journal called "The Journal of Controversial Ideas" that is designed for scientists to publish papers on controversial topics without fear of retribution.
Despite the very foundation of scientific inquiry being built on the ideas of freedom of conscience and the rejection of dogma, the anti-reason, anti-science sentiment too often tries to sacrifice (and succeeds at it) good science on the altar of dogma.
In some sense, it's sad that scientific inquiry has to shelter itself from the inquisition, but on the other hand, its creators have to be praised for creating a space where no idea is too controversial to be discussed and shared.
The same goes for our industry, we should encourage active and lively debate even about the most controversial ideas. That's how our collective thinking gets better and will enable our culture to build better environments.
What are such controversial ideas that people are afraid to talk about?