When asked last Tuesday what he considered to be the “greatest threat” to U.S. national security, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, replied: I […]
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What’s the Big Idea? The 17th-most cited economist in the world, a Nobel laureate for his work examining global wealth concentration and international trade, and the inspiration behind a viral Youtube […]
The U.S. economy added only 80,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate remains stuck at 8.2 percent. Worse yet, many economic forecasters see “tepid” growth for the rest of […]
What’s the Big Idea? Philosopher Slavoj Žižek is fundamentally anti-capitalist, and yet, the man who describes himself as a “complicated Marxist” also expresses palpable irritation at the idea that capitalists are […]
If you’re in a horse race–and that’s how Bill Bain would describe private equity–you don’t try to teach the lamest horse how to run. Instead, you pick a thoroughbred and teach it how to compete more successfully against the competition.
Before we celebrate our nation’s freedom and independence, let us take a minute to support a struggle not-yet won: Internet freedom, which has become essential to participatory democracy.
I recently helped a friend prioritize their measurement framework for a series of growth experiments. Here’s a lightly edited version of my advice. When looking to focus on user growth, […]
Theoretical Physicist Dr. Michio Kaku says that even with strong evidence of the Higgs Boson, it is not time to pop the champagne. Next up: use the Large Hardon Collider to find dark energy.
New computer software that pours over crime data is better than police officers at predicting where future crimes will occur. And giving the work to computers allows cops to stay on the street.
There is therefore no better way to support our troops than to hire them into the civilian workforce. But don’t just hire them because it seems like a good, patriotic thing to do.
Gold is in fashion these days thanks to uncertainty in the global economy and worries that the United States and other countries will devalue their debts through inflation. Gold is valuable, and […]
Baratunde Thurston’s How To Be Black is neither peevish gripe nor venomous attack. Like the best satire, it convinces with wit and compassion, and offers readers a vision of a better America that’s entirely within reach.
When you’re hiring someone new, the biggest concerns are typically how the person will fit into the organization, and whether his or her experience directly matches the position. The same […]
The Godfather of DIY Punk says that the internet has opened up new worlds of instantaneous communication, and new opportunities for media and governments to obscure and evade the truth.
Scientists working with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN have found strong evidence for the Higgs Boson. The Higgs has been postulated for its power to explain the existence of matter in […]
Our power was out all weekend, along with that of millions of other electricity refugees. Our city’s patience and civility were fraying. Cannibalism loomed just around the corner, so my […]
Compiled here is a list of five of the most widely accepted theories today that might be be affected.
While discovering the Higgs particle would bode well for the validity of the Standard Model, there are still lingering questions which the Large Hadron Collider has yet to find answers to.
Even economists aren’t satisfied with gross domestic product and incomes anymore. Now we also want to know how happy people are and how much they feel they can realize their potential.
What’s the Big Idea? In the U.S., the weekends sandwiching the 4th of July are the most popular travel time of the year. The cherries are ripe, the pool water is swimmable, and […]
Google’s new glasses, which work like a hands-free smartphone, will continue to erase technological barriers to entering modern culture. Our storytelling ability stands to benefit greatly.
This week, physicists in Europe are expected to announce whether or not they have found the Higgs boson, which is the last undiscovered particle in the Standard Model of particle physics.
People with deep spiritual conviction—from religious fundamentalists to high Himalayan mystics—possess the greatest existential gift of all: certainty. But these days, it’s not a gift that we find it easy […]
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who ought to know, says that the future won’t be anything like The Terminator. “I live in the real world, and in the real world that’s simply […]
Canada’s vast oil sands make it the world’s second-most oil producing nation. But the benefits of greater wealth and energy independence must be weighed against the environment.
There’s wicked, like the Wicked Witch. Wicked, as in evil. There’s wicked, like “It’s WICKED hot!” Wicked, urban slang for ‘very’. And then there are Wicked Problems; […]
Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam recently told activists that class division has become the dominant form of social difficulties in America, and that the problem is getting worse.
So I go to Panera Bread (a great example of how a well-designed national chain can serve localist ends) yesterday and was confronted by several Floyd County members or fellow […]
It seems Afghanistan may go the way of Angola and the Congo, which have both suffered greatly as a result of material wealth coupled with unaccountable political institutions.
A Berkeley physics discussion group asked “the late night big questions of quantum theory” which served to refocus the field of quantum physics.