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.

Watch videos

World Renowned Bloggers

2

Big Think’s contributors offer expert analysis of the big ideas behind the news.

Go to blogs

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.

Find out more
Close

Extreme Biology

The new rules for living longer and healthier

Extreme Biology

Why I'm an Animal Lover

Shutterstock_111284387
24 days ago

I’m basically an animal lover.  I study animals not to understand humans necessarily although that has become my business, of course. Working with primates it’s very easy for me to connect what chimpanzees or Bonobos do to human behavior.  And people are very interested in that part of my work ...

Extreme Biology

The Underlying Logic of Codes and Memes

Washington
27 days ago

The word code turns out to be a really important word for my book, The Information .  The genetic code is just one example.  We talk now about coders, coding.  Computer guys are coders.  The stuff they write is code.   Code, of course, is a word with a long history, and it pops up again during ...

Extreme Biology

Two Reasons the Fear of Death is Universal

Shutterstock_107588285
28 days ago

What explains the seemingly universal human fear of dying? It’s a mixture of two things, which could be separated.  One is we know that other people die. And when other people die, particularly people who have a close role in our lives, we experience it as a potentially final loss. And from that ...

Extreme Biology

My Best Advice on Quitting Smoking

Shutterstock_108545138
about 1 month ago

If you want to stop smoking here’s the best advice that I could give you.  The first thing I would say is, smoking is actually not physically addictive for very long after you stop smoking.  So we know from studies that about 100 hours after your last cigarette, all of the nicotine is out of your ...

Extreme Biology

Why You Should Eat Bugs

Shutterstock_134453462
about 1 month ago

In terms of sustainability and what we eat and what its footprint is on the environment and the consequences of eating one thing versus another, obviously it makes a lot of sense to be eating insects.  They’re incredibly plentiful.  They’ve got a very short turnover rate.  You could be eating ...

Extreme Biology

Why Aren't We All Happy Polygamists?

Shutterstock_31658374
about 1 month ago

Modern culture is intrinsically polygamist.  The culture of sexual choice is precisely nothing but polygamy, polygamy without marriage, if you will.  We live in a culture of multiple sexual and romantic and marital partners. According to the biologist's view, if we are indeed inherently ...