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.
Browse videos featuring experts across a wide range of disciplines, from personal health to business leadership to neuroscience.
Big Think’s contributors offer expert analysis of the big ideas behind the news.
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.
The High Culture and Low Art of Wine
Young couple walks into a wine store. They wander around in that "Not-looking-for-anything-specific-over-here!" kind of way. Coy but focused. Avoiding my attention, but in need of it. "Is there anything I can help y'all find?" "Yes," the groom says assertively. " We just had a daughter ...
Ten years ago, when I was a neophyte oenophile, the Benziger family came to do a tasting. They brought fresh pressed, 9-hour old, raw, unfiltered Syrah grape juice. The flavors in the juice were overwhelming: the free run Syrah juice bore absolutely no resemblance to Syrah wines. I tasted ...
We've all seen it - you're watching a movie and then, suddenly, you realize the camera isn't focused on the latest star, the tense drama, the exciting action. Cute-as-a-damn-button Drew Barrymore lures the ugly alien to the house with Reese's Pieces in ET. Milton, the office outcast, badgers ...
So you've decided wine is your passion, your avocation, your all-consuming second life. Sure, you'll taste some of the most hedonistic, luxurious, complex beverages in the history of mankind. Yes, you will find the perfect match for whatever you love to eat - whether it be strange-flavored ...
Editors' Note: It's too late to heed Mark Card's advice (below) for Valentine's 2012. But you've got a whole year to save up for two bottles of Tokaji Eszencia for Valentine's 2013 . . . Valentine's day. You want special AND different. I have the answer. Be prepared. But you’re not ready ...
The Consumer Electronics Show is over and Mat Honan, senior reporter for Gizmodo.com, is depressed. He wrote a lyrical piece about the melancholia created by a three-day Bacchanalia of consumer electronic excess. This is a man devoted to technology and trust me, he needs a hobby (http ...
Tonight, you'll pop a bottle of Champagne, and raise a flute to the promise of sweet, newborn 2012. As this is a time for all things reflective, stop to think about a few things related to that glass of Champagne. Thanks to the global economy, we live in a virtual wine paradise: more wines ...