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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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A Critical Look at the Ideas We Fear Most
In the middle of writing and reading about gun policy and morality, I was horrified to see responses to writer Sam Harris' essay on gun control. For example, this one by Ian Murphy makes no coherent argument and, uses more expletives and (inaccurate) character attacks than a drunken sailor; but I ...
No doubt everyone has seen the two-part Piers Morgan interview of conspiracy-weaver, gun “enthusiast” and upcoming thespian, Alex Jones. The interview is truly bizarre: firstly, for making so many people cautiously confess to congratulating Morgan like they’re admitting a murder; and, secondly, for ...
We’re told to have a positive attitude; that love conquers all; that anger is unhelpful and hate unneeded. Evangelists of optimism would drown us in their toothy smiles and keep us as drones on the front line of the happiness assault. This, however, is wrong. To take this approach is not only so ...
The Taboos of Alan Moore, Conclusion The topic of sexuality and children elicits justifiably strong reactions. However, as with most strong emotions, it also leads to unjustified, often irrational, responses to non-dangers. Whether this is the over-stated claim that 50,000 paedophiles “prowl ...
The Taboos of Alan Moore, Part 2 Regarded by many as the greatest comic book ever written, Watchmen itself broke custom: thinking it would not see reprinting – since almost no comics at the time did – Moore signed away his rights, in order to sell the book*. When it started gaining traction, the ...
The Taboos of Alan Moore, Part 1 The world of V for Vendetta is both dystopia and the inevitable outcome of the Thatcher period Moore and artist David Lloyd worked in. As the Guardian points out, “there's no doubt that the evils of the British Tory party and Thatcherism were preying on Moore's ...
One important purpose of literature has always been to allow us to safely test our moral fibres against the grain of hardened anathemas: killing, adultery, incest, pornography, theft, anarchy have all been explored in various forms of literature. Whether as primary or even minor themes, words ...
This seems to be a week of sex-focused controversy. But then sex tends to have that effect, even when it's just our own species. Nelson Jones wrote about a German proposal to outlaw sex with animals. It's surprising to find that sex with animals is not currently illegal in Germany. Nor is ...
Distinctions matter in debate. When we conflate and equate, for example, controversial groups of people that are not the same, it means we are not reacting accurately. For example, just because someone was a prisoner doesn’t mean he’s automatically (1) bad, (2) guilty, or (3) committed an act that ...
We have a tendency to fetishize moral virtues: respect, tolerance, love, etc., are generally regarded as good things. It is good to respect and be respected, it is good to tolerate and be tolerated, and so on. However, being human, we have tendency to mistake tools for walls. Thus, when you respect ...
Many writers, like Dan Gardner, Daniel Kahneman and Peter Singer, have detailed a conflict between so-called “feelings” and “reason”, “Gut” and “Brain”, System One and System Two. Reason tells us that the chances are minimal the sound you hear at 3am is a psychopathic murderer with a bloodied ...
Some months ago, I ended up discussing the death penalty with some friends. I uttered what I thought was a fairly uncontroversial statement – especially among this group of smarter, scientifically-inclined, liberals: Scientific evidence should be the basis of policies and we should be willing to ...
I wrote a short piece detailing the brilliance of mature story-telling, this time in a video game. Spec Ops: The Line is a military-shooter that is aware of itself, the kind of world that makes games like it, and, indeed, the kind of people that play it. Since I've been focused on villains lately ...
In this two-part piece, we will examine the portrayal of villains in creative mediums, like novels and comics, and why they are severely lacking; in this part I also argue why it's necessary to create better villains. Click here for Part 1. --- Villains are Not Evil… One of the easiest ...
In this two-part piece, we will examine the portrayal of villains in creative mediums, like novels and comics, and why they are severely lacking; I will also argue why it's necessary to create better villains. The large, eerie fortress; the lightning strikes occasionally illuminating his usually ...