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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It may be a day dedicated to love. But for Xi Jinpin, China’s presidential heir apparent, it is a day dedicated entirely to business...and basketball. Trade deficits, currency devaluations and human rights issues are the topics dominating the dialogue between President Obama and Xi Jinpin ...
President Obama has unveiled his proposed 10-year budget today, and while there’s nothing particularly shocking included for those who have been following the ongoing debate between the White House and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, the new economic plan for the United States ...
Bernard Savage, Head of the EU Delegation to Sri Lanka and the Maldives said: “At this stage, given our information, we would not say that there has been any legal infringement of constitutional forms. We are not taking sides but, as the High Representative Cathy Ashton has made clear, what we ...
Just as Mitt Romney appears to be wrapping up the Republican nomination for the presidency, congressional Republicans are taking steps to set up their own political framework for the 2012 election. In short, the future of Medicare is on the line and a Romney vs. Obama match-up will surely address ...
What's the Big Idea? As the Assistant Secretary of Education in the first Bush administration, Educational historian Diane Ravitch became known for her push to establish national standards for K-12 education. From 1997-2004, she served as a member of the National Assessment Governing Board ...
It's not easy to take on Vladimir Putin. Just ask Nikolai Maksimov, who was thrown in prison, or Boris Berezovsky, who was forced into exile. Both men are billionaire tycoons who didn't play by Putin's rules. On the other hand, if you have an $18 billion fortune and apparently promise to play ...
Julian Assange: Establishment outsider. Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Talk show host? Apparently so. The Australian founder of controversial website WikiLeaks will be at the helm of "The World Tomorrow," a series comprised of 10 interviews with "key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries," to ...
From Tea Parties to Occupy Wall Street, regular American citizens are sick and tired, and just can’t take it anymore. I am a proud tea partier, which means that I am fighting for fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets. Those three goals make up the core of our ...
President Obama released a preview video of his State of the Union address, which many have called a blueprint for his reelection campaign message. It goes like this: the "central focus" of his Presidency is rebuilding the economy, and this is a "make or break moment for the middle class ...
The United States spends billions of dollars a year on foreign aid that often keeps autocrats, kleptocrats and dictators in power. Of course, when the US or any rich, developed country allocates foreign aid, their aim is not necessarily to keep bad policies in place. Not surprisingly, some of the ...
What is the Big Idea? It turns out that ground zero for China's economic boom was in Xiaogang, a small, rural farming village in the Anhui Province. On the night of Nov. 24, 1978, farmers from 18 households in this village drafted and signed a secret document that changed the way their ...
Severe income disparity and fiscal imbalances are the biggest threats to globalization, according to the 2012 Global Risks report released last week. The content of the report will be on the agenda for the annual World Economic Forum taking place in Davos on January 25-29. The findings ...
China and Russia made the news recently for their relentless cyberattacks on US cyber systems. Earlier this month, viruses originating from these countries are blamed for the theft of personal banking information belonging to students and faculty members at the City College of San Francisco ...
What's the Big Idea? The U.S. involvement in Afghanistan has dragged on for over a decade now, making it the longest war in U.S. history, and one of the costliest. However, it should be some measure of consolation to know just how much has changed since the Taliban were removed from power. Under ...
The XO 3.0 tablet was one of the most talked about gadgets at this year’s Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. The tablet has a hand cranked accessory that powers the device which can run on Linux or Android. This is helpful for children living in rural areas of developing countries where ...