“Culinary Luddism has come to involve more than just taste; it has also presented itself as a moral and political crusade—and it is here that I begin to back off,” says one historian.
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After a recent paper showed that immigrants do not steal jobs from Americans, economic pundits are highlighting other ways immigration benefits the national economy.
Nicholas Rombas at n+1 reviews films as an homage to French surrealists André Breton and Paul Éluard by walking into theatres randomly and leaving as soon as the plot makes sense.
“Colombia is no longer the most dangerous country in the Americas.” Government grants for would-be drug farmers and an increased provincial presence have stabilized many areas.
While diets often prescribe eating right or eating less, The Economist says dieters seek out excuses to cheat. In situations where non-dieters would be content, dieters continue to eat.
To what extent do we treat computers like humans? If computers praised our abilities, told us we were doing a good job, would it flatter us or would we see through the artificial compliments?
“People are more likely to acquire new health practices while living in networks with dense clusters of connections—that is, when in close contact with people they already know well.”
“Policies that generate more widely shared prosperity lead to stronger and more sustainable economic growth—and that’s good for everyone.” Robert Reich on how to fix the recession.
“TV shows are emerging as a new front in the war over digital media between Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc., amid their ongoing battles over electronic books and online music.”
“The universe arises from scientific processes, not God—as Hawking himself would have agreed decades ago.” Hawking hasn’t changed his mind about God, says a former interviewer.
“Politicians don’t know the difference between a server and a waiter,” declared Andew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, at Hybrid Reality’s recent salon on the emerging revolution in […]
It’s a good year to die. Right now—for the first time in 94 years—there’s no estate tax. So if something should happen to you, your beneficiaries won’t have to pay […]
In 1895 Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer published “Studies on Hysteria,” a series of case studies of female patients with bizarre symptoms that had no obvious biological cause. Some patients […]
Is a person’s propensity toward evil a matter of malfunctioning synapses and neurons? Michael Stone, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and author of “The Anatomy of Evil,” says […]
It has come to a pretty pass indeed, when we have to rely on the New York Times to report a British political and media scandal, while much of the […]
An information-saturated society is going to notice plenty of weird correlations, like the Blade Runner curse or the unfortunate fate of American presidents elected in years that ended in a […]
Another oil rig has blown up in the Gulf of Mexico. The Vermilion 380 is owned by Mariner Energy which was recently purchased by by Apache Energy, according to Think […]
Eruptions reader Raving brought a change in the alert status another Indonesian volcano to our attention. This time, Seulawah Agam on Aceh has been raised to the lowest Alert Status (from […]
To what lengths would you go to survive in the face of death? Could you amputate your own arm to free it from beneath a boulder? Could you survive 10 weeks on frogs and leeches? Over the next four days, Big Think interviews men who survived the harshest conditions.
A shiny new report of the week’s volcanic activity, brought to us by the Smithsonian, USGS and the Global Volcanism Program … and of course, Sally Kuhn Sennert. Some highlights […]
One might think that men would have to pay prostitutes a premium to have sex without a condom. But a new study of the sex trade in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez suggests the opposite.
Does politics today revolve around the dynamics of cable news? What might be the future of traditional network news and how should we prepare students for careers in journalism, media, […]
The prosecution of Roger Clemens for perjury is wasteful and hypocritical, says Steve Chapman at The Chicago Tribune. The Justice Department should have higher priorities.
“The U.S. military’s Central Command has proposed pumping as much as $1.2 billion over five years into building up Yemen’s security forces, a major investment in a shaky government.”
“Here’s the central paradox of American jobs and education. While benefits from going to college are increasing exponentially, the fastest growing jobs aren’t for high-earning college graduates.”
“By reshaping our minds, the internet is robbing us of the ability to think critically and creatively, says the author of The Shallows, Nicholas Carr.” The New Scientists conducts an interview.
“Is it possible to reach peace in the Middle East? Israelis, Palestinians and negotiators from around the world—and the United States, in particular—are making another go at it.”
“The contemporary customer is mad as hell—fed up with inept service, indifferent employees, and customer-service departments that are harder to negotiate than Kafka’s Castle.”
“Apple has unveiled a new music social network that could rival Facebook and Twitter, as well as an Apple TV that can stream movies and television shows directly from the Internet.”
A new book tells the story of how a Parisian perfume magnate persuaded Proust’s family not to destroy his effects, among which were his manuscripts and famous overcoat.