What is Big Think?  

We are Big Idea Hunters…

We live in a time of information abundance, which far too many of us see as information overload. With the sum total of human knowledge, past and present, at our fingertips, we’re faced with a crisis of attention: which ideas should we engage with, and why? Big Think is an evolving roadmap to the best thinking on the planet — the ideas that can help you think flexibly and act decisively in a multivariate world.

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.

Big Think Features:

12,000+ Expert Videos

1

Browse videos featuring experts across a wide range of disciplines, from personal health to business leadership to neuroscience.

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World Renowned Bloggers

2

Big Think’s contributors offer expert analysis of the big ideas behind the news.

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Big Think Edge

3

Big Think’s Edge learning platform for career mentorship and professional development provides engaging and actionable courses delivered by the people who are shaping our future.

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Mind Matters Posts

Human behavior in a post-rational world

Mind Matters

What Are You Worried About?

Ape_and_skull
4 months ago

Over at Edge.org, its impresario John Brockman poses an annual question to his assemblage of scientists, scholars, writers and other insightful people. This year's (suggested by George Dyson), was this: "Tell us something that worries you (for scientific reasons), but doesn't seem to be on the ...

Mind Matters

Best. Anti-Smoking. Campaign. Ever.

Best%20anti%20smoking%20ad%20ever.
6 months ago

I'm convinced that human beings are far less rational, coherent, consistent and aware in their daily decisions than they are supposed to be. This means we're out of synch with the founding assumptions of our markets, electoral systems and other important institutions. But this doesn't mean I want ...

Mind Matters

A Bailout for the Rest of Us

Simon%20legree
6 months ago

A year ago Mike Konczal noticed something stunning about the stories on the We Are the 99% Tumblr: The people in them don't sound like late 20th century consumers who just want more stuff, nor like early 20th-century union organizers in quest of decent wages and work conditions. Instead, they sound ...

Mind Matters

The End of Smoke-and-Mirrors Politics?

Politicians%20fighting
7 months ago

Who won big in last night's election? Data. Cold, hard data and the analytical tools to interpret it. The Obama campaign won by leveraging unbelievably detailed information about voters, as Michael Scherer describes today. And those observers who did best at predicting what voters would do (like ...