Sure, economics is about making money. But it’s really about human behavior in general. In his Great Big Ideas lecture, University of Chicago professor Saul Levmore looks at the origins and tools of economics.
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When we habituate to something, our physical and psychological response becomes so used to it that whatever the “it” is stops being arousing.
Founder of the D.I.Y. jewelry company Stella and Dot, Jessica Herrin saw the need for action when her business began to fail. A quick reaction to bad times is what counts, she says.
Former Xerox C.E.O. and Chairman Anne Mulcahy says women should steer clear of companies that do not already have female board members. Is she right?
The very nature of business school is at odds with the idea of creating tomorrow’s leaders, says Drew Hansen. M.B.A. students often lack the big picture as well as people skills.
My latest article has been posted on AlterNet, Conservatives Want America to be a “Christian Nation” — Here’s What That Would Actually Look Like. In it, I analyze the “Christian […]
Steve Jobs’ death yesterday unloosed a torrent of well-deserved encomia to the man and his genius. Jobs’ abundant talents as an engineer, designer, and capitalist are beyond dispute. But did […]
Not much. At least, that’s what I think. Ron Rosenbaum discusses the question at length in a thorough and thoroughly interesting piece in Slate. Rosenbaum’s discussion confirms my impression that […]
Acute Leukemia was the first issue we fought against at Involver. I’m telling that story today because a great person, Amit Gupta, was just diagnosed with this disease. You can help […]
Companies like Apple need to constantly innovate just to maintain their present position. This is the harsh reality that businesses must face in the increasingly competitive global economy. Harvard Business School’s Linda Hill has advice for leaders in these challenging times.
To be sure, our incompatible ideas of “work” and the workplace are a huge part of the problem. But so is the informal, perfectionist view that parenthood is something that swallows you up whole.
The theme of Turkle’s indispensable book is in its title. It’s an old theme, originating, maybe, with the philosopher Rousseau. Technological progress is at the expense of personal virtue and the relational […]
Today Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer received the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the first Swedish winner since 1974 and the first umlauted winner since Herta Müller in 2009. The citation mentions […]
The world’s most expensive and complex ground-based telescope Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has just offered its unique views of deep space, including images of two galaxies colliding, here:
In his new book, 1493, Charles Mann gives us a rich, nuanced account of how the Columbian Exchange continues to reunite the continents and globalize the world.
–Guest post by Faizullah Jan, American University doctoral student. Single Page View “We are the 99%,” proclaim the protesters participating in the Occupy Wall Street marches and sit-ins. Without a […]
In an “important step” in stem cell research, scientists have for the first time succeeded in creating human embryonic stem cells by injecting DNA from a skin cell into an unfertilized egg.
Scientists have created a working cloaking device using sheets of carbon nanotubes which create the “mirage effect” observed in deserts or on long roads in the summer.
The gap between controlling an artificial limb and feeling a physical touch has been bridged via a virtual prosthetic hand that monkeys were able to control using only their minds.
Companies need formalized processes for people with ideas to get to people with the influence to move on them, so the best new ideas actually reach those who can exploit them.
The man who changed the world: Apple founder Steve Jobs dies weeks after quitting as boss of firm he started in his garage. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg praises his “mentor and friend.”
For most people, there’s little difference between graffiti and street art. To those within that circle, however, there’s a whole world of difference—even enough to drive them to destroy the […]
Steve Jobs, former chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, told Stanford University graduates three stories about connecting the dots, love and death. “Remembering […]
At Big Think, we believe a video is worth a thousand words, especially in this case, when we are so very stunned by a life that was cut off so […]
My inaugural post on Big Think drew a wide range of opinions from commenters. (New site, new community! It takes some getting used to on both sides.) But this comment […]
Mourn for a day. Think Different for the rest of your life. That’s the only thing I can think of. I’m still speechless at the news that Steve Jobs has passed […]
The European banking system is in worse condition than America’s banks were in 2008 or are now. Dexia is single bank needing a $238.9 billion infusion.
If past trends are any guide, this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature will go to a post-postmodern Francophone novelist from a forgotten duchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. And yet partisans […]
The winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced this Friday, October 7th. Last week, a former Norwegian prime minister ignited speculation about this year’s winner by announcing, “It will be an interesting and very important prize … I think it will be well-received.”
So the Big Think’s AGE OF ENGAGEMENT is advertising a showing of Carl Sagan’s hugely influential film CONTACT. The film will be shown, appropriately enough, as an excellent example of how […]