April 16, 2012

What is Democracy?

The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

For this week’s post I would like to ask a single question: What is democracy?

Please share your answers in the comments. I will feature what I think are the most interesting responses in next week’s post.

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I look forward to your thoughts!

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Image of The Parthenon courtesy of Shutterstock

The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

A photograph of an ancient manuscript with Greek text, displayed on a plain background with abstract purple lines drawn around the edges.

Big Think Books

From Gnosticism to Gospel Manga: 6 books to help you unpack the Bible and its history

Experts and Big Think writers recommend their favorite reads for diving deeper into the history and perspectives found in the Book of Books.

A geometric collage with partial photos of two people, a delivery robot labeled "prime" inspired by Amazon robotics, and vintage map textures, overlaid by the text "THE NIGHTCRAWLER.

Business

A deep dive into Amazon robotics and AI

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

An astronaut in a spacesuit stands facing a large red planet or celestial body with a glowing edge against a black background.

Brian Cox: Why Earth’s orbit is the new Wild West and what that means for us all

“We are beginning to take our first steps out into the cosmic ocean… and the water seems inviting.”

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19 min

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with

Brian Cox

Starts With A Bang

A quantum miracle enabled the formation of neutral atoms

If it weren’t for the intricate rules of quantum physics, we wouldn’t have formed neutral atoms “only” ~380,000 years after the Big Bang.

A failure of a paper airplane constructed from crumpled paper.

The Learning Curve

How to find success with the 4 conditions of “intelligent failure”

“It is natural to want to avoid failure. But when we avoid failure, we also avoid discovery and accomplishment.”

Up Next

Should Europe Put Its Royalty Out to Pasture?

An ill-timed African vacation (to shoot at elephants) has landed Spain’s royal family in hot water with the public. At what point do cultural traditions themselves become anachronistic?