Guest Thinkers — February 22, 2011

Dan Ariely: “Predictably Irrational”

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

To cap off Day 2 of the World Innovation Forum, Dan Ariely will be speaking on the topic, “The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.”

Dan Ariely is a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University and visiting professor at the MIT Media Lab. A behavioral economist, Ariely is the author of the groundbreaking and bestselling book, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Illustration of human evolution with silhouettes of ape to human walking against an abstract background with swirling red and white patterns.

The Past

A new spin on the “Stoned Ape Hypothesis”

The controversial theory about magic mushrooms and human evolution gets a much-needed update.

An image of a cluster of galaxies, meaning science.

Starts With A Bang

10 thoughtful insights about the great cosmic unknowns

An in-depth interview with astronomer Kelsey Johnson, whose new book, Into the Unknown, explores what remains unknown about the Universe.

The Future

“Mad King” behavior: A prediction for how 21st-century nuclear war would unfold

“We are not our grandparents. It’s time to start thinking differently,” journalist Annie Jacobsen told Big Think.

A silhouette of an archer centaur stands poised over a background of binary code, symbolizing the rise of more AI jobs.

Business

Will AI create more jobs or send us the way of the horses?

Evidence shows that “centaurs” — human–AI teaming — produce better performance than either people or software can achieve alone.

Illustration depicting "Humanity vs. Nature" with diagrams of evolution, ecocentrism, biocentrism, and anthropocentrism, featuring images of a tree, human evolution, and a whale.

The Past

Why harmony with nature is a myth

Slowing growth and limiting development isn’t living in harmony with nature—it is surrendering in a battle.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

Digital Darwinism: The New Marketing and Media Ecosystem

n In the current issue of strategy + business magazine, Christopher Vollmer, a partner with Booz & Company in New York City, comments on the “digital Darwinism” that is reshaping […]