Stephen Johnson

Stephen Johnson

Executive Editor, Big Think

A man with short dark hair wearing a dark button-up shirt poses against a plain black background.

Stephen Johnson is Executive Editor at Big Think. His writing has appeared in PBS, U.S. News & World Report, and newspapers and magazines across the Midwest. He lives in St. Louis.

Everything Videos Articles
Abstract illustration of a human figure with glowing neural-like lines and bright light concentrated around the head, set against a red and orange gradient background.
Thinking
A letter from the editor
Introducing Big Think's Consciousness Issue.
Stephen Johnson
Silhouette of a person carrying a cross in front of the United States Capitol building, symbolizing cross purposes between faith and politics.
Big Think Books
The price of Christianity’s “broken bargain” with democracy
An atheist's case for why American democracy needs a more Christlike Christianity.
Stephen Johnson
Illustrated bell curve depicting IQ distribution with meme characters at various IQ levels: 70, 100, and 130, representing different intellectual stereotypes.
Strange Maps
The story behind the internet’s most viral (and misunderstood) political meme
A study on the “moral circles” of liberals and conservatives gets drafted into the culture wars — with mixed results.
Frank Jacobs
Illustration of a hand cutting red tape with scissors over a government building labeled "National of Health.
The Future
How Arc Institute is bringing science into the century of biology
There is one obstacle that reliably blocks innovative ideas: how we fund science.
Stephen Johnson
Abstract digital collage featuring a hand holding a phone with news content, binary code, and a stylized onion logo against a green and blue pixelated background.
High Culture
How the internet changed news, according to The Onion
What you can learn about media by parodying it from the print era into the digital age.
Tim Brinkhof
a man sitting in a wheel chair next to a laptop.
High Culture
Stephen Hawking’s famous voice belonged to this pioneering MIT scientist
Dennis Klatt developed trailblazing text-to-speech systems before losing his own voice to cancer.
Stephen Johnson
A black and white image of a man holding a camera and various Chinese and Japanese textbooks, showcasing his dedication to learning these languages.
Neuropsych
A polyglot explains the tips (and myths) of learning new languages
Arieh Smith, a New York City-based polyglot who runs the YouTube channel Xiaomanyc, talks language-learning with Big Think.
Stephen Johnson
Learn from the world's biggest thinkers.
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