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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Focal Point Posts

Exposing political corruption and championing feminism

Focal Point

Video: Extreme Makeover, Blogger Edition

Junostjohn-14
about 3 years ago

I have good news and bad news on the JUNO front. The bad news is that my partner, Darcy James Argue, and Secret Society didn't take home the statuette for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for Infernal Machines. On the upside, drippy teen phenom Justin Bieber didn't win anything, either. Further ...

Focal Point

Crack, Junk Food, and Addiction

Beignet_by_hamron
about 3 years ago

In TIME, science writer Maia Szalavitz dissects a recent rat study that was reported as if it showed that junk food is "as addictive" as crack. Some rats were assigned to the equivalent of an all-expenses-paid cruise: nearly continuous access to a spectacular array of fatty delicacies including ...

Focal Point

That Dating vs. Hooking Up Study

Hooks
about 3 years ago

A recent study on college students' preferences for dating vs. hookups is, unaccountably, generating national media attention. The authors found that a bunch of 19-year-old college freshmen in the South embraced traditional gender norms. The study is called "To Hook Up or Date: Which Gender ...

Focal Point

Rep. Bart Stupak to Retire

Stupak
about 3 years ago

Politico reports that the notorious anti-choice congressman Bart Stupak (D-Mich) is retiring. Stupak claims that he abruptly announced his departure on a Friday afternoon for no particular reason. He told Politico that he'd been thinking of retiring for the last couple election cycles and, now that ...

Focal Point

An Engagement Ring Is a Deposit on a Wife

Diamond_ring
about 3 years ago

Via Gawker we learn that a New York judge reaffirmed a guy's right to demand the ring back if the engagement breaks off for any reason. In the case before the court, a Long Island woman maintained that she should be allowed to keep the $19,000 ring because her former fiance cheated on her: On ...

Focal Point

Celibacy and Child Rape

Infant_of_prague
about 3 years ago

At the New York Review of Books Blog, controversial Catholic theologian Hans Küng blames the celibate priesthood for the epidemic of child rape in the Catholic Church. (The term "rape" is mine and it's carefully chosen. When adults force sex on children, that's rape.) He argues convincingly that ...

Focal Point

Booze is an "Office Supply" at the RNC

Evil_clown_by_americanvirus
about 3 years ago

When I read that Republican National Committee staffers had expensed nearly $2000 worth of "meals" at bondage-themed Hollywood nightclub specializing in simulated lesbian sex, I knew it couldn't be an isolated incident. No one would be bold enough to expense that unless they were sure they could ...