History & Society

History & Society

Trace how culture, power, and ideas shape societies across time.

White Castle restaurant building with logo signs on a stone tower stands proudly against a clear blue sky, embodying an evergreen business model that continues to thrive.
From “crave” packs to Valentine bookings, the world’s first fast-food hamburger chain values innovation from every level of the organization.
Map showing a pink route line from Lagos, Nigeria to Singapore, crossing Europe and Asia. Lagos and Singapore are labeled with bold text and marked with colored dots.
Can you travel by rail from Portugal all the way to Singapore? In theory, yes. In practice? Not so much.
A dense field of stars and galaxies is visible against a black background, with some bright stars showing lens flares.
The COSMOS-Web survey is now complete, combining JWST and Hubble infrared data. Its spectacular views show us the Universe as never before.
A colorful abstract painting is centered over a black-and-white collage of old newspaper clippings featuring portraits and articles.
Reading obituaries can boost creativity by exposing you to distant ideas, fueling the associations that lead to unexpected breakthroughs.
Visualization of a section through the large-scale structure of the universe highlighting cosmic web patterns and distributions.
Since 1998, we've known our Universe isn't just expanding, but the expansion is accelerating. Could the Big Bang itself be the reason why?
A green planet with rings is shown against a starry black background, with shadowy humanoid figures visible inside the planet’s outline.
Long before the search for biosignatures, scientists imagined a cosmos teeming with intelligent life.
A man in a suit holds up a Hurricane Dorian forecast map in an office, tracing the storm’s projected path and intensity over several southeastern U.S. states and the Bahamas—echoing the urgent clarity of a 1938 science manifesto defending democracy.
As democracy recedes and fascism rises in the USA and around the world in 2025, history provides a lesson in how science can fight fascism.
A man wearing a beanie and dark clothing sits with one arm resting on his knee, inside a blue rectangular frame on a light background with abstract lines, embodying the cool, thoughtful vibe of King Willonius.
The comedian and musician behind the viral hit “BBL Drizzy” shares the books that shaped his thinking and approach to art.
Illustration of a thumbs up and thumbs down, resembling a like button and dislike button, on a black background, both partially covered with red scribble marks.
Will platforms continue to offer the like button as an all-purpose tool — or will each of the button’s various functions exist in new forms?
A grid of connected translucent spheres on a light blue background represents network leadership, with one central sphere colored orange instead of grey.
The rapid crash of Nokia was triggered when key information gatekeepers became bottlenecks. Here’s the key lesson.
A vintage-style illustration of a celestial scene, echoing science fiction by scientists, features a textured black planet and a whimsical moon with an eye, all enclosed in a pale green border against a starry background.
What happens when scientists "write what they know"? Some amazing science fiction stories.
Black and white photo of a young woman resting her chin on her hand, set against a green background with circular and brain patterns.
Arendt thought 20th-century philosophy had become too passive and abstract. She called for "active thinking" that prepares us to live in the real world.
A collage with “The Nightcrawler” text, a grayscale photo of a tractor in a field, and a blue-tinted portrait of a man in a suit, layered on blue backgrounds with chart graphics that hint at long-term investing trends.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Photons come in every wavelength you can imagine. But one particular quantum transition makes light at precisely 21 cm, and it's magical.
You don't need to be a scientist or a philosopher for facts, reality, and the truth to matter. The alternative is simply known as bullshit.
Black-and-white photo showing a disc-shaped object with a shadowed underside, floating in a blank sky—an iconic image from the UFO craze.
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.”
Book cover for "More Everything Forever" by Adam Becker, featuring a cosmic background with vertical blue streaks and white text, blending AI, space, humanity’s future, and echoes of Star Trek’s vision of exploration.
As we shape our future we should ask: Which interpretations of classic sci-fi fables hold sway with today’s powerful tech leaders?
A black and white photo of a bald man with a beard, reminiscent of a Christian Toetzke interview, is centered against a colorful abstract background featuring blue, yellow, and black geometric patterns.
The cofounder of Hyrox — one of the fastest-growing global brands in fitness — puts his snowballing success through a proper Big Think workout.
Book cover for "Unstoppable Entrepreneurs" by Lori Rosenkopf, featuring a torn paper effect revealing an orange circle with text about bootstrapping startups and innovation, published by Wharton School Press.
Warren Buffett famously noted that Berkshire Hathaway would “never depend on the kindness of strangers to stay in business.” Startups take note.