Our BIG THINKING friend, Robert de Neufville, wonders why more Republicans aren’t voting in the primaries. His wondering, of course, is hopeful. It must mean either that the ferocity of the […]
Search Results
You searched for: inspiration
“Why are we picking at these carcasses of creativity?” Holly Finn asks in a recent Wall Street Journal article, pointing her critical finger at the particular corpse of Damien Hirst’s […]
The latest X Prize competition was unveiled to “develop a mobile solution that can diagnose patients better than or equal to a panel of board certified physicians.”
Surprisingly relevant career advice from the Viennese master.
Information is power. The Internet has made it possible to share and spread information faster than ever before. Unprecedented levels of access to information means that democracy is bound to take root and flower in even the most authoritarian corners of the world — right? Not necessarily, says MacKinnon.
It is commonplace to talk about the democratizing effects of social media but how exactly did Twitter enable the Arab Spring revolutions? Was it a one-time event or will it happen again?
To the mathematically disinclined: what tools, tips, or tricks have you found especially helpful for balancing your books, staying on top of debt, and planning for the future?
Laura Deming, a 17 year-old undergraduate, was paid $100,000 by a California venture capitalist to leave her university. The offer is part of a bold business/education experiment.
Internet expert Jonathan Zittrain tells Big Think that the free and open culture inspired by the Internet has empowered anyone with a “shred of artistic talent” to participate in Internet free culture. Now, that free culture could be limited by Congress and the Internet is fighting back.
As part of considering the costs and benefits of major regulations, the federal government assigns a dollar value to human life. This is not a real person, just an […]
What is the Big Idea? Thanks to the power of social media, a new 29 minute video aimed at capturing an international criminal has been viewed more than 30 million […]
“Write what you know” isn’t about events, says author Nathan Englander. It’s about emotions. Have you known love? jealousy? longing? loss? As a kid, did you want that Atari 2600 so bad you might have killed for it?
Super Bowl 2012 is upon us, so we indulge the healthy quarterback vs. quarterback rivalry by asking which is a better leader. The glamorous Brady or the workhorse Manning?
For most of the world, music lessons are a luxury of the bourgeois class. Both musical instruments and music lessons are pricey. As the average American moves his home several […]
In a new book, John Horgan argues that humans didn’t begin to fight with each other until 10-12,000 years ago. Horgan seeks a scientific explanation for how humans became lethal through culture, not biology, and how we can choose to end it.
The buzz surrounding physicist Stephen Hawking‘s newest experiments with communication technology has been a bit overexuberant, along the lines of “new technology could help Stephen Hawking communicate via brain waves!” […]
Maybe it’s because I’m a product of post-sixties America, born into an anti-authoritarian culture of individual liberty and self-expression. Maybe it’s because I’m the rebellious son of a tough, Italian-American mother. But I’ve always had issues with discipline . . .
In the first of my posts summing up the Reason Rally, there was a commenter who said that gathering on the National Mall was “sink[ing] to the level of the […]
Handheld technology is changing the way education is delivered because it allows children to learn ‘anywhere, anytime, any place’ and the ‘magic’ of new technologies is proving inspiring.
With spring blooming all around us here in the United States, it’s natural that our thoughts go to, well, last spring, specifically the “Arab Spring” that saw the rise of […]
Reverse innovation starts in the developing world, but it also brings big benefits to rich countries.
Not only has Pinterest received $27 million in venture funds over the last few months, the site’s popularity has exploded from 1.2 million users in August to over 4 million today.
What is the Big Idea? The working conditions at Foxconn is about to get a lot better. At least that is the idea behind purported reforms announced last week, some of […]
Kids, want to be an artist when you grow up? We’ve got a check-list for how to tell your parents. Parents, oh no, you accidentally raised an artist? Don’t despair: […]
Why don’t more leaders in the U.S. have science backgrounds?
What is the Big Idea? Vladimir Putin’s waning popularity is prompting the opposition to allege that voter fraud is the primary explanation for his inevitable win in Sunday’s presidential elections. […]
As long-time readers know, except on rare occasions, I don’t write about my personal life on this blog. This isn’t because I’m trying to be mysterious; I just don’t think […]
an Iron Chef style creative contest in which you’ll have 72 hours to write a short piece of science fiction inspired by our surprise “big idea.” The best entries will be published on Big Think’s homepage, visited by 1.5 million viewers a month.
This week I came across an interesting study by Latitude Research via the MindShift Blog. In collaboration with LEGO® Learning Institute and Project Synthesis, Latitude asked children from across the […]
Democratic operativeHilary Rosen got into trouble the other dayfor saying that Ann Romney had “never worked a day in her life.”Her comment’s getting widely criticized as rude. I think it’s […]