Sean McManus
Executive Editor
Sean McManus is Program Director of the Ideas Economy Project at The Economist Group in New York where he oversees a series of offline events and edits the Ideas Economy website. Prior to that, he was executive editor of Big Think where he oversaw all editorial operations and led the production of over 400 interviews with experts and thought leaders from around the world. Earlier, Sean was an editor at 02138 magazine. His work has appeared in the New York Times, New York magazine, Worth, and Details. He is a graduate of Washington & Lee University and earned a masters degree in American History from the University of North Florida, where he was the teaching assistant for a visiting professor from South Africa named Desmond Tutu.
Global CFOs Predict Continued Staggering Pain and Loss
The Economic Times highlights a Duke University/CFO magazine study today and the news is not good. CFOs around the world expect the recession to last well into 2010. Surveyors reported […]
In a Fast-Moving World, the Secret is Simplicity
The problem with the world, as Adam Singer sees it, is that systems evolve to grow more complex over time. But there’s an opportunity hiding amongst the chaos: When the […]
Miles Nadal in the Big Think Studio
The advertising industry is in the midst of a massive realignment. And that’s just the way Miles Nadal likes it. Nadal is the chairman and chief executive officer of MDC […]
Is Gordon Brown’s ‘Global New Deal’ Just a Bailout of Britain?
Gordon Brown is in America this week meeting with Barack Obama and the L.A. Times says the embattled British Prime Minister is using the trip to “present a united front […]
How the Internet is Saving Poetry
Just when you thought poetry was dead, Newser today cites a Telegraph story showing that email and social networking is catalyzing a resurgence in that oldest of literary art forms. […]
Seth Godin’s Tribal Leadership Strategies
Permission marketing expert Seth Godin has written a new book called Tribes about leadership in a post-geography world. Is Nuveau Tribalism the path to leadership in the twenty-first century? Godin’s […]
How to Prepare Kids For a Lifetime of Failure
James Bowman writes in the Wall Street Journal today that, beginning next month, the College Board will allow high-school students who have taken the SATs multiple times to submit only […]
Will a Giant Mirrored Force Field Save the Planet From Global Warming?
Despite obstacles, including an estimated $350 trillion price tag, a University of Arizona astronomer wants to save the earth from global warming by firing trillions of mirrors ito the stratosphere […]
The Ultimate Bailout Machine
As governments around the world study ways to save tanking car manufacturers, it appears the nation known for fine automobiles has engineered the best solution to the car crisis to […]
Will the World Follow England in Adopting an Open Source Government?
Ryan Paul writes in ars technica today that the UK government is ramping up its open source software in an effort to cut costs and make bureaucracy more efficient. Tom […]
MIT Unveils Faster, Meaner Solar Car
The MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Team is up to their old tricks again. They’ve just finished construction of the latest high-tech car, which is being unveilved on the MIT campus […]
Open-Source Urban Planning Arrives Via Twitter
A new tech movement aimed at empowering citizens to remake their cities, called DIY City, launched in 2008 and involves forums where people can propose projects and then discuss the […]
Richard Florida and the Cities of the Future
In Boston.com’s Boston Real Estate Now blog today, Rona Fischman attempts to calm the jitters of nervous renters. “Take note,” she writes, “you may be in the right place for […]
In Weak Economies, Old Ideas Die Faster
Fortune magazine today reminds us of the importance of social science to the new global economy. “These days the tech landscape is an unpredictable jumble,” writes Fortune’s Jon Fortt. “Consumers […]
The Personal Side of Disruptive Innovation
Last week, Big Think uploaded a new interview with Clayton Christensen, the Harvard Business School “disruptive innovation” evangelizer. Now Adam Singer on the Future Buzz website, lists a few ways […]
What, Exactly, is the New American Tea Party?
According to their website, this new grassroots anti-stimulus activist club, which is currently the most googled item on Google, is “a coalition of citizens and organizations concerned about the recent […]
Need a Job? Become an Insolvency Lawyer
Law Times, a Canadian legal website, cites a report today from a staffing agency called Robert Half Legal showing that Canadian law firms are “searching for talent in the areas […]
Politico Blogs on Washington’s Twitterati
Patrick Gavin at Politico highlights today Washington’s most influential twitterers. “In Washington, the social networking and microblogging service is quickly becoming part of the daily media diet — and a powerful […]
Introducing Google Paparazzi
According to Variety, new technology now enables stargazers to get closer than ever to A-List Celebrities on the red carpet on Oscar night tomorrow. As synthesized by Newser, “Several websites […]
To Save Magazine, Playboy Turns to Seth Rogen
It’s not news that neither Playboy magazine, nor the Enterprise generally, is doing so hot. The entire New York editorial office was moved to Chicago recently, and longtime chief executive […]
Why It’s Important to Reward Stupid People
David Brooks, in his column, “Money for Idiots,” writes today in the New York Times that although our economic system—and life in general?—is supposed to be based on the idea […]
Can Paul Krugman Save the World?
The alternative but clever Boston Phoenix is convinced that the New York Times editorializing, Princeton teaching, Nobel Prize-winning celebrity economist Paul Krugman is the man to desend, deus-ex-machina-like, into the […]
Now is the Time to Start a New Company!
Lately, Big Think guests have been extolling the virtues of recession entrepreneurship, echoing the idea, essentially, that necessity is the mother of invention. Well, today in the New York Times, […]
Global Warming, Hurricanes Threaten New York City
The New York Daily News yesterday reports that New York will likely becoome “hotter, rainier and more likely to flood in the coming decades—with sea levels possibly rising more than […]
Cigarette Smoke Destroys Your Brain
Researchers from the University of Cambridge have discovered that exposure to second-hand smoke could increase your risk of developing dementia and other brain-eating impairments. The research highlighted a 44% increase […]
Hamsters Will Now Solve the Energy Crisis
Georgia Tech wants to know whether hamsters can help solve the world’s energy crisis. “Probably not,” it turns out, “but a hamster wearing a power-generating jacket is doing its own […]
Maybe the Gooch Was Right, Porn Is Getting More Interesting
A 29 year-old porn star named Stormy Daniels is thinking about running for U.S. senate in Louisiana, in a campagin to unseat Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter, who you may […]
Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, Multilateralism, and the New Global Society
Coming on the heels of Joe Biden’s applause-worthy speech to Munich last week, where he assured European leaders and security officials “strong partnerships to meet common challenges” and promised “to […]
What Would Ronald Reagan Do?
Bill Brown, a visiting professor of the practice of law at Duke University, says the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 is the best model for getting America out of […]
Yen Rises While We Don’t Pass Stimulus
Bloomberg today reports that the yen rose against the dollar after “the U.S. government delayed the announcement of a financial- recovery plan.” Traders took refuge. “Japan’s currency gained as U.S. […]