Technology & Innovation — February 3, 2011

Bing Fights Back

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

A black and white portrait of a smiling man in a gray sweater is centered against a vibrant, abstract digital background with blue, purple, and green sections, evoking the essence of humanity striking back.

“Humanity strikes back”: The 5th industrial revolution

Mike Bechtel, chief futurist with Deloitte Consulting LLP, joins Big Think for a wide-ranging look at what’s next — and why.

Two stylized silhouettes facing forward: one patterned with digital pixels and another with various symbols, set against a green background.

The Well

Win back your agency from algorithms with data literacy

Algorithms dictate a lot more than your social media feeds. Here’s how to win back your agency.

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6 min

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with

Talithia Williams

A smiling bald man is positioned in front of a collage featuring a large clock, a graph, and a timeline spanning from 2004 to 2010. The background is primarily yellow with various black and white elements, reflecting Horowitz hindsight at its finest.

Business

The hard thing about hindsight: Why looking back has its limits

Big Think asks startup legend and VC heavyweight Ben Horowitz to reflect on his bestseller “The Hard Thing About Hard Things.”

Starts With A Bang

The reality of quantum fluctuations was proven back in 1947

Often viewed as a purely theoretical, calculational tool only, direct observation of the Lamb Shift proved their very real existence.

Ancient cave painting depicting animal figures, including what appears to be a bull and a bird, on a textured, brown and beige rock surface.

The Past

World’s oldest cave painting now dates back 51,200 years

An analysis of Indonesian cave paintings is reframing the history of human art, though whether the paintings really were created by human hands remains an open question.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

This Is What Courage Sounds Like

An Egyptian acquaintance wrote me from Cairo this morning. I’m passing on his warning to journalists and foreigners about gangs of pro-government thugs roaming the streets there. This morning, as […]