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A word about Big Ideas and Themes — The architecture of Big Think
Big ideas are lenses for envisioning the future. Every article and video on bigthink.com and on our learning platforms is based on an emerging “big idea” that is significant, widely relevant, and actionable. We’re sifting the noise for the questions and insights that have the power to change all of our lives, for decades to come. For example, reverse-engineering is a big idea in that the concept is increasingly useful across multiple disciplines, from education to nanotechnology.
Themes are the seven broad umbrellas under which we organize the hundreds of big ideas that populate Big Think. They include New World Order, Earth and Beyond, 21st Century Living, Going Mental, Extreme Biology, Power and Influence, and Inventing the Future.
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Countries in which cultural and economic activity is in the process of rapid growth and industrialization
What's the Latest Development? Once considered a pioneer in digital publishing when he offered a short story solely in e-book format back in 2000, Stephen King has announced that his latest novel, Joyland, will be released solely as a physical book starting June 4. Although Amazon does have it ...
What will the world look like without a single superpower setting the rules? That's the question that Ian Bremmer, the political risk expert, tries to answer in his new book, "Every Nation for Itself". Bremmer's focus is as much on politics as economics, but I think he has some useful insights ...
What is the Big Idea? China's growth is slowing. Its economy expanded at 8.1 percent during the first quarter, which is significantly slower than the previous quarters and a disappointment compared to the last decade of double digit growth. There are two main reasons for the cool down ...
Forget BRIC. It's all about RGM, which stands for Rapid Growth Markets. It's a new acronym that represents 25 key market areas that business leaders should be paying attention to. Ernst & Young compiled a report earlier this year that identified the "top 25 ‘rapid-growth markets’ or RGMs [that ...
What is the Big Idea? Jim Yong Kim, a global health expert and the president of Dartmouth College was named as the next president of the World Bank, according to The New York Times . Dr. Kim, 52, will take over on July 1 after the current president, Robert B. Zoellick, steps down at the end of ...
What is the Big Idea? After years of political and economic deadlock, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is coming out of stagnation at a dizzying speed. Since he took office in March 2011, President Thein Sein released a number of political prisoners and took steps to reform the economy. And ...
On Tuesday, April 4th, 2012, we had the pleasure of interviewing Richard Tafel, human rights activist and founder of the policy advocacy organizations The Log Cabin Republicans and The Public Squared. Tafel, who has been named by Newsweek as one of the 30 most influential gay leaders in the United ...
What is the Big Idea? While the world was celebrating Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi's party's victory in Sunday's special elections in Myanmar, a new currency exchange rate went into effect. Effective April 1, the exchange rate is now at 818 kyat to the dollar and the country is ...
What’s the Big Idea? Want to scare a book publisher, a record store owner, or even a doctor? Creep up behind her and shout: disintermediation! This is the term du jour for "cutting out the middle man," which happens any time a producer of something - a writer, a band, or a pharmaceutical ...
What is the Big Idea? Best Buy, Pepsi, General Electric, Intel, Phillips and Nestle. What do these multinational companies have in common? They've all penetrated China's retail market, but that is where their similarities end. General Electric, Intel and Phillips have found a home in China ...
What is the Big Idea? World Health Day is on April 7 and the theme this year is Aging and Health. The World Health Organization provided some key facts about today's aging population: The number of people today aged 60 and over has doubled since 1980. The number of people aged 80 years ...
The United States is entering uncharted waters as a superpower, as it slowly climbs out of a crippling recession and faces an electoral showdown this fall between cautious globalism and a desire to retrench its economy against external competition from emerging third-world dynamos. President ...
What's the Big Idea? Happy International Women's Day! This is the first of many events throughout the month which focus on celebrating the historic achievements of women around the world, while highlighting the injustices of women's continued socio-economic inequality. This morning, Big Think ...
President Obama has unveiled his proposed 10-year budget today, and while there’s nothing particularly shocking included for those who have been following the ongoing debate between the White House and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, the new economic plan for the United States ...