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

Browse videos featuring experts across a wide range of disciplines, from personal health to business leadership to neuroscience.

Watch videos

World Renowned Bloggers

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

Go to blogs

Big Think Edge

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

Transcript

Topic: Challenges for Young Artists

Dana Gioia: Well I think in some ways, young artists today are finding their inspiration as much in pop culture – in those little areas in pop culture where people are still doing serious work. And the reason is because that’s the only culture that’s accessible to them. They have some people like . . . Especially with musicians where there’s still a . . . a viable, kind of classical tradition. They can be part of an orchestra. They can learn the repertoire, things like this. But young artists, I think, learn from the art that came before them and the circumstances of their own lives. And so I think it’s always been the case. But I think today, a lot of artists are more in the present moment than they are with any kind of vivifying relationship with the past. And you can do good things out of that, but I think it’s actually a richer way to be able to pull the present and the past together.

Recorded On: 7/6/07