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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Life and relationships in the internet age
What's the Big Idea? When the clock struck midnight this past Wednesday, dozens of pot smokers lit up in plain sight at Seattle's Space Needle. At that exact moment, the state of Washington's liberal marijuana law went into effect. No federal officials were in sight. No arrests were made, even ...
This afternoon, the Supreme Court agreed to hear argument in two same-sex marriage cases: a challenge to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to overturn Proposition 8 and a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This is the first time the Supreme Court will consider ...
As we look toward a new year, the sparks & honey team has identified 54 trends that will shape business and popular culture in 2013 and beyond. Based on our Culture Mapping Platform and proprietary scoring methodology, we have created a 2013 Trends Snapshot that features “Now,” “Next” and “Future ...
What do Sir Richard Branson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Paul Mitchell founder John Paul DeJoria; bestselling author/speakers Jack Canfield, Gregg Braden, Barbara Marx Hubbard; three-time Nobel nominated Dr. Scilla Elworthy; philanthropist James Caan; former financial fund manager Alison Poithier ...
As we look toward a new year, the sparks & honey team has identified 54 trends that will shape business and popular culture in 2013 and beyond. Based on our Culture Mapping Platform and proprietary scoring methodology, we have created a 2013 Trends Snapshot that features “Now,” “Next” and “Future ...
"My daughter and I just finished reading Life of Pi together," President Obama wrote to the novelist Yann Martel two years ago. "It is a lovely book," the President continued, "an elegant proof of God, and the power of storytelling. Thank you." Martel's novel tells the story of Piscine Molitor ...
What if you could change your culture? You know, culture, that invisible collection of beliefs and morals made manifest through your use of language, customs and rituals. Your culture informs everything in your life from how you select your spouse to what you believe about God. Anthropologists ...
What's the Big Idea? What's the essential value of an employee benefit? Protection from a catastrophic loss is an important one. That loss could come in the form of a large hospital bill, for instance, and that is why health insurance is seen as a key benefit. Due to the shift from a "defined ...
What's the Big Idea? 'Tis the season for giving, rationally. According to Julia Galef, President of the Center for Applied Rationality, rational giving is not something we are naturally very good at, and as a result, our unconscious biases create negative consequences for ourselves and for ...
Black Friday came earlier than ever this year, with big box stores opting to open the floodgates to shoppers while the gravy was still warm on Thanksgiving Day. That led one analyst to complain that retailers "have basically ruined every holiday." After all, you can't have your turkey and eat it ...
What's the Big Idea? It takes roughly 4 hours to roast a fairly large turkey. How many life skills can you learn in that amount of time? Tim Ferriss has a blueprint for meta-learning that he says you can use to obtain a diverse set of skills in an extremely short timeframe. That is why Ferriss's ...
Over at The Stone, Christy Wampole diagnoses the malaise of the post-millennial age and suggests a few ways “How to Live Without Irony.” It is a sign of Wampole’s misdiagnosis that her recommended cures sound a lot worse than the disease. First, the claim: For many Americans born in the ...
You need to watch what you say. I'm not just talking to you, overzealous Twitter and Facebook users who share every aspect of your personal life. Or you, Mr. former director of the CIA. There is the possibility that all of us are being watched at any moment, and that should have a chilling effect ...
If you are in the path of Sandy, by this point you have hopefully already completed your safety checklist that includes things like batteries and flashlights, food and water. So now what? You're stuck at home fighting boredom. You might be tempted to drive your car to the Jersey Shore to gawk ...
As we detailed in our New Social Systems Deep Dive report, a growing mistrust of institutions is driving a seismic shift in values in the United States. As Americans look beyond traditional values, a new set of ideals, beliefs and systems are starting to emerge. From the rise of atheism and non ...