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.
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"We've done quite well for ourselves," wrote Neil deGrasse Tyson in a January 1, 2001 Op-Ed in The New York Times. Tyson was ringing in the New Year by sizing up the "relentless comparisons" between the fictional world of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey , and "our measly earthbound life in ...
How could the universe be created out of nothing? This question has so perplexed mankind that we have come up with a fantastic assortment of myths to explain the how and the why of existence. The stories that tend to resonate with us employ metaphors that are based on human scale, or the ...
Every week, Dr. Michio Kaku will be answering reader questions about physics and futuristic science. If you have a question for Dr. Kaku, just post it in the comments section below and check back on Wednesdays to see if he answers it. This week Dr. Kaku addresses the question of how you can ...
NewSpace SmallCaps often face challenges: tight budgets, game-changing competition, lengthy development schedules and cash flow crunches. To reduce some of this pain, NewSpace companies have found significant advantages in tapping universities for talent, but more importantly, they have redefined ...
What's the Big Idea? In protesting the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to allow intelligent design to be taught in public schools as an alternative to creationism, Bobby Henderson audaciously argued that "Flying Spaghetti Monsterism" ought to be given equal time in classrooms as well ...
What's the Big Idea? If Western philosophy begins with the Greek philosopher Thales, it begins with the question of whether humans can ever arrive at the dream of "knowing all there is to know." Thales had his answer. Water held the key to understanding the universe. It was believed to be the ...
Every week, Dr. Michio Kaku will be answering reader questions about physics and futuristic science. If you have a question for Dr. Kaku, just post it in the comments section below and check back on Wednesdays to see if he answers it. This week Dr. Kaku addresses how physics has revolutionized ...
How confident are scientists that world won't end on December 21? Here's a Neil deGrasse Tyson tweet from several weeks ago: Tyson is not alone. NASA scientists are also so confident, in fact, that they released a video explaining why the world "didn't end yesterday" 10 days in advance. In ...
Now that Pope Benedict XVI has joined the Twitterverse, we will see how the pontiff wields the power of 140 characters. Early signs are only moderately encouraging. Before he started tweeting this afternoon, the Pope communicated with his flock primarily through encyclicals and messages ...
Let’s say you’re just now tuning in to reports that the world will end on December 21 when the Mayan calendar resets to zero. Maybe you’re one of the 35 million Americans who fear it will really happen. Maybe the prospect of solar storms, rogue planets and devastating floods is a welcome ...
When true paradigm shifts occur, as with Cloud Computing and NewSpace, there is no buzz phrase that is more appropriate, stigmatized as it may be. When examining existing and emerging NewSpace Market opportunities, the 2nd of the "NSG 4-Screens," the ever-recurring interplay of the two innovation ...
"I do in fact know that this sounds crazy," Elon Musk tweeted this week. “But if humanity wishes to become a multi-planet species, then we must figure out how to move millions of people to Mars." Like any big, bold idea, Musk's plan for colonizing Mars strikes you at first glance as indeed crazy ...
Here is one of the great existential problems that caused a lot of 20th century angst: the more we learn about the universe, the more we realize how insignificant we are. Here is 21st century science's answer to that: Humans are very sophisticated conglomerates of materials. We are very special ...
The Science Channel will re-run all five seasons of the sci-fi cult drama Fringe beginning tonight at 8pm. The two-hour pilot will air along with the first episode, followed by daylong marathons on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24. The relaunch will also feature "wraparound" introductions and bonus content ...
Like many investors, NSG Analysts know that the management team is the most important criterion or “screen” to use when evaluating a company in NewSpace, and the stakes are high for the LargeCap NewSpace management teams. More than any product, market opportunity, or level of capitalization, smart ...