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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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Transcript

Question: Do you have a personal philosophy?

Ingrid Newkirk: I do have a personal philosophy. I’m an atheist. I believe that if you have a religion, it should be sort of to your personal principles. In my case I believe kindness is one of the best religions that you can have. And in fact all the major religions are founded on that principle. It’s just that followers deviate from it over a period of time. Mohamed used to say to his followers never to overload a donkey; to rest the donkey; never to throw stones at a bird; all these things.

In Judaism there are many rabbis who say that you shouldn’t eat animals, that you shouldn’t ever wear the fur of animals. In Christianity of course Jesus knew if a little sparrow fell and was always advocating kindness to all living beings. And Buddhism, Hinduism, the gamut. So to me the core value is kindness and just trying to be decent.

Recorded on: November 12, 2007