Technology & Innovation — September 20, 2011

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Ends Today…Will the Mutinies Begin?

In August, 2010, Paul Rieckhoff, Founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told Big Think, “I will put all the money in my pocket right now on the fact that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will be repealed.” Of course, Rieckhoff turned out to be right, and today marks the day that the military’s policy has ended.

Just how good is Rieckhoff at predicting the future? Big Think asked him how the men and women of the armed services would react when the new policy goes into effect.

Watch Rieckhoff here:

Starts With A Bang

The unsurprising non-detection of intelligent aliens

Life arose on Earth very early on. After a few billion years, here we are: intelligent and technologically advanced. Where's everyone else?

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High Culture

Does science fiction shape the future?

Six visionary science fiction authors on the social impact of their work.

A human brain preserved in a clear glass container filled with a yellowish preserving fluid, set against a bright, light green background.

13.8

The key problem with the “brain in a vat” thought experiment

Even with the best technology imaginable, you'd probably never be able to exist as a consciously aware brain in a vat.

A dramatic solar eclipse with a radiant ring of fire visible around the moon, set against a backdrop of clouds and a sunburst.

13.8

A cosmic coincidence: What eclipses tell us about Earth

Total eclipses are a product of a strange and almost eerie cosmic coincidence — one that makes Earth an even rarer world in the galaxy and, by proxy, in the Universe.

Starts With A Bang

If photons have mass, could they explain dark matter?

Our Universe requires dark matter in order to make sense of things, astrophysically. Could massive photons do the trick?

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