When I read the news that the Bamiyan Buddhas, the giant 6th century statues in Afghanistan destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001, would not be rebuilt, I had mixed […]
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BIG THINKER Daniel Honan reminds us that Mayor Bloomberg is not in any obvious sense an ideologue. He’s just about using the power of government to curtail behavior that costs the […]
The size of the Internet just expanded exponentially on June 6, a date also known as World IPv6 Launch Day. Internet Service Providers and leading Internet companies like Facebook and Google […]
Internet pioneer Jaron Lanier argues that free technologies like Facebook come with a hidden and heavy cost – the livelihoods of their consumers.
One year ago I wrote an article for Big Think with the title walking across campus whilst sitting on your couch in which I introduced my readers to the AnyBot, […]
Archimedes in the bathtub, Newton and the apple, Einstein’s theory of special relativity — Eureka! moments are what happens when hours of work come together in a single creative flash. […]
How much should Facebook be worth? According to a recent poll, two-thirds of active investors think Facebook will be overvalued when it goes public today, while half of all Americans […]
Obviously, people’s priorities differ. But it’s fair to say that culturally speaking, the United States leans in the direction of intense productivity at the expense of time spent reading a good book, or in the company of friends and family.
These specially-made relief maps showed blind children were sensitive to the geo-distributive aspect of maps
A clever experiment designed by Harvard researchers suggests that we mostly imagine, and recall, positive visions of the future. Though negative forecasts occasionally help us correct our course.
Longtime readers of this blog may remember that I wrote a book some time ago. What happened to it is something I’ve only alluded to a few times. Suffice to […]
In honor of the birthday (and death date, we think) of the greatest writer in the English language, today, April 23rd, is Talk Like Shakespeare Day. In cities from Chicago […]
According to former White House Special Advisor Van Jones, it will require a patient mindset to get us to the place where the country can run on cleaner and more renewable forms of energy.
“My earliest memory is of anxiety!” cartoonist Daniel Clowes tells an interviewer in The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist, the first serious monograph of the work of this seriously […]
The vast empire over which human reason once ruled has been made a fiefdom by current neurological research. The brain is as vulnerable to outside influence as any other organ.
The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, characterized “cyber” as an “existential threat to the United States of America” in a recent issue of Fortune […]
I kind of want to move to the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Actually, not really, but I may visit more often once the new 2nd Avenue Subway line is […]
What’s the Big Idea? Long-time political activist and self-proclaimed “party crasher”Richard Tafel believes that American democracy is under threat. The environmental, economic, healthcare, and political systems we’ve relied on for decades are […]
While we don’t always realize it we are better connected, healthier and more secure than any generation before us.
In his autobiography, The Moon’s A Balloon, British actor David Niven writes about an instance when the American playwright and screenwriter Charles MacArthur approached Charlie Chaplin for advice on how […]
By Peadar Coyle It is said that education is something people have strong opinions about. A growing literature has emerged around randomized evaluations of interventions, most notably Esther Duflo’s work on […]
Both links/excerpts come from Eric Barker at the reliably stimulating Barking up the Wrong Tree. First, strong relationships. Via The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel […]
Van Jones told The New York Times that Glenn Beck pushed him out of a job and his advocacy organization pushed Beck out of one. “Now we’re both irrelevant!” he […]
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What is the Big Idea? China’s growth is slowing. Its economy expanded at 8.1 percent during the first quarter, which is significantly slower than the previous quarters and a disappointment […]
This is follow-up to last week’s post on crowdfunding and the opportunities it could provide for the so called teacherpreneurs. Let’s take it as an alternative to the traditional forms […]
Private company Space X successfully launched its unmanned Falcon 9 rocket into space early Tuesday morning from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Worldcrunch provided some fun facts […]
California-based TED is perhaps the most visible of the groups that are leading the crossover of serious intellectual thought into the pop mainstream. TED’s approach – the 18 minute inspirational […]
Why would so many people take time off from their smart phones to watch the Transit of Venus through a telescope? According to Bill Nye, it is our human desire to explore. If we ever lose that desire, we’re not going to move forward as a species.
What’s the Big Idea? Up up down down left right left right B A start. Press these buttons in succession while playing any one of the more than 60 video games […]
What’s the big deal about J.P. Morgan’s $2 billion trading loss? Austan Goolsbee, an economic advisor to President Obama, said the American public should be concerned because, in his words, […]