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.
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Article written by guest writer Rin Mitchell What’s the Latest Development? The number of jobs the United States added in July gives a glimmer of hope that the U.S. economy is making a recovery. The 163,000 new jobs exceeds the expectations for many, as they were lowered when a previously ...
Article written by guest writer Rin Mitchell What’s the Latest Development? Women all over the world are faced with the decision on whether to pursue a career or have a family. It is believed that it is the societal and economical issues that make it hard for women to do both at the same time ...
What's the Latest Development? Reflecting on creating a start up while holding down a job and supporting a family, Eric Farkas has generated a list of priorities that other would-be entrepreneurs should pay close attention to. Before getting to priorities list, however, Farkas says having a ...
What's the Latest Development? Now that the government has made it easier to crowdfound your projects, loosening the requirements for accepting cash in exchange for equity, how should you go about soliciting the public's financial support for your project? Musician Erin McKeown has put her own ...
What's the Latest Development? Being connected 24/7 increases productivity up to a point, says new research, but then it causes stress, disrupts life and actually decreases worker output. Statistics gathered by Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow indicate that workers "who had time ...
What's the Latest Development? Some analysts close to Silicon Valley say the dream has run its course and that innovation is now a euphemism for the proliferation of social media websites with ever-smaller niches. Others, such as Todd Hoff, disagree. The High Scalability blogger believes the ...
What's the Latest Development? The concepts of service and volunteering are undergoing radical changes due to new technology platforms and an increasingly competitive job market. As one might expect, there will be a side to service increasingly motivated by individuals' self-interest. Start ups ...
What's the Latest Development? Were it not for the list of extremely successful businessmen behind the recent announcement to mine asteroids for precious metals, the idea might be a laughing stock. But when Google executives and private space pioneers team up with James Cameron and the heir to ...
What's the Latest Development? If you have an idea for a new technology company, there are an increasing number of firms willing to trade you some start up cash for a slice of ownership, plus give you access to great business minds along the way. Actually, even if you do not have an idea for a ...
What's the Latest Development? Who wouldn't like to, at least in principle, strike out on their own and control their own destiny? That is the dream of the start up, and while the small, agile business may have more cultural caché at the moment, having a job at a corporation can teach you about ...
What's the Latest Development? When Forbes surveyed over 1,200 European business executives about their attitudes, beliefs, priorities and behaviors, five general personality types emerged, all showing strong innovative qualities. Do you see yourself in one? Movers and Shakers have a strong ...
What's the Latest Development? In response to the growth of the knowledge-based economy, writing computer code is becoming increasingly popular—and increasingly necessary. Jobs that once required no programming skills, such as being a librarian, now depend on navigating software. And for anyone ...
What's the Latest Development? Mobile technology should be used to create a more humane work environment, says John Stein, founder of Betterment, a savings and investment start up. Although Stein's employees take customer calls on the weekends and often work into the morning hours, they can come ...
What's the Latest Development? The start-up ReWork is the first company that places job applicants directly with 'disruptive, world-changing organizations', including all manner of non-profits and triple-bottom-line businesses. When a select group of companies needs new employees, they send ...
What's the Latest Development? Rather than sign up for a new social media service that will take more of your precious time, use the networks to which you already subscribe to make your business run more effectively. By using iGoogle or Google Reader, you can create a leadership dashboard which ...