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Narrative
What happens when scientists "write what they know"? Some amazing science fiction stories.
In this preview from "The Saucerian," author Gabriel Mckee explains how the combination of fantastical stories and obscure bureaucracy launched the “space age of the imagination.”
How the cult hit sci-fi show imagines a “techno-realist” future.
When you enter someone's home, you learn how life is lived elsewhere.
From Allen Funt to Donald Trump, author Emily Nussbaum explains how reality TV has blurred the lines between, well, reality and TV.
“The only requisite for nonfiction is that it’s true," says Nathan Thrall, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama."
Self-help often distills philosophical ideas for the modern ear. Sometimes, its better to go back to the source.
For J.R.R. Tolkien, the single most important element of a fairy tale was the dramatic reversal of misfortune in the story's ending.
How can "you" move on when the old "you" is gone?
7mins
“The problem with conspiracy theories is they're not just telling you a story, they're telling you a really good story. There's a hidden cabal behind everything that's happening, there's a secret pattern that you just have to be smart enough to detect.”
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
The Danish philosopher's simple paradox — living forwards while looking backwards — can be translated into golden business insights.
Whenever something goes wrong — in business as in life — we tend to get cause and effect totally muddled up.
Why the best entrepreneurs should be more Obi-Wan Kenobi than Luke Skywalker.
It's good to be a wallflower. But sometimes, you need to show yourself off a bit.
The philosopher Skye C. Cleary explores what being authentically happy looks like in a world where so many can't be.
From Nick Carraway to Charles Marlow, these side characters offered truths their scene-stealing protagonists couldn't.
How heavy is the mask that you wear?
“Dune: Part One” screenwriter Eric Roth spoke with Big Think about the challenges of bringing Frank Herbert's sci-fi epic to the big screen.
Big Think columnist Adam Frank makes the case for why the 2023 video game Alan Wake 2 is a boundary-pushing piece of art.
Fantasy, meet statistics: The census comes to Middle-earth!
How to say, "In many ways, Proust is similar to Joyce" and get away with it.
Omer Bartov, who spent decades studying the unspeakable horrors of genocide, shares how his studies have impacted his own mental health.
With great power comes retcon responsibility.
31mins
Filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, rock icon Steve Albini, and comedian Fred Armisen told Kmele how they make sense of the world — and leave their mark on it.
36mins
Are we the stories we tell? Kmele sat down with legendary conservationist Jane Goodall, actor Terry Crews and psychologist Dan McAdams to discuss how humanity makes its meaning.
See the world through the eyes of a horse — or a cake pan.
10mins
“Only a narcissist would want to become president.” This is the psychology of an authoritarian unpacked.
Serving as the inspiration for the modern horror classic “The Blair Witch Project,” what does our fascination with this unsolvable mystery tell us about our modern psyche?