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.

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Transcript

Question: What was your favorite Big Think blooper?

Victoria Brown: One of our first interviews was in Boston. And Eddie who runs the production, really had to become very, very quickly up to date on how to set this whole thing up. And he’s done an amazing job.

The very first time we were setting up there was one tiny error. And it’s bizarre how tiny things can seem huge when they happen, and it was a missing battery, which ended up not actually mattering at all. But I decided we had this big, important business person coming on – Michael Porter – and it was our first interview on location somewhere, and we had very limited time to set up. And he was on his way in, and he was going to give us a specific amount of time and that was it. And so there was this battery. I don’t even remember what it was for – maybe the microphone or something like that. And so we were like, “What the heck are we going to do?” And it was maybe half a mile to the Staples store. And because I’d lived in Cambridge I knew where the store was, so I said, “I’ll go.” And I was wearing some kind of boots, and it was really, really hot that day. And I ran to the store and there were people; I literally shoved an old lady out of the way to get to pay. I threw down $20. It cost probably like $2, and just took the batteries and ran all the way back.

And when I got in there Michael Porter was there, and I was just sweating disgustingly. And then I was also the makeup artist, so I had to do his makeup and sweat was pouring off me.

I don’t even think it was that funny, but the one I remember the most.

Recorded on: January 2, 2008