History & Society

History & Society

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

Two astronauts in orange spacesuits and helmets prepare for a mission. A digital countdown displays "T-MINUS," with an Artemis mission patch visible on one spacesuit.
These missions will put us one step closer to the ultimate goal: crewed trips to Mars.
A hand is tossing two white dice with black dots against a dark background.
3mins
Don’t fall into the determinism trap. Everything is, in fact, random, says chemist Lee Cronin:
The Earth partially submerged in water, symbolizing climate change and rising sea levels, against a black background.
12mins
“You can find examples of really big environmental problems that we've already solved.” Climate change is solvable, argues Hannah Ritchie.
Cover of "The Nightcrawler" featuring a chart showing China's economic growth surpassing the rest of the world, with a pixelated face overlaid. Emphasizing second-level thinking, the "Et . business" logo is in the bottom right corner.
Welcome to the Big Think debut of The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Illustration depicting "Humanity vs. Nature" with diagrams of evolution, ecocentrism, biocentrism, and anthropocentrism, featuring images of a tree, human evolution, and a whale.
Slowing growth and limiting development isn’t living in harmony with nature—it is surrendering in a battle.
Ancient ruins with stone columns and damaged walls, featuring a statue partially visible in the background. Clear blue sky above.
In popular culture, the eruption is usually depicted as an apocalyptic event.
Four images of tennis matches on grass courts, showing different stages of play, each with two players. The courts show varying degrees of wear from fresh to significantly worn.
How has tennis changed in recent decades? The wear and tear on Wimbledon’s Centre Court may tell the tale.
For centuries, Newton's inverse square law of gravity worked beautifully, but no one knew why. Here's how Einstein finally explained it.
A close-up digital rendering shows a glowing blue orb with intricate internal patterns, resembling a microscopic or sci-fi object, set against a dark background with scattered lights.
Quarks and leptons are the smallest known subatomic particles. Does the Standard Model allow for an even smaller layer of matter to exist?
how many planets
From size to mass to density and more, each world in our Solar System is unique. When we compare them, the results are truly shocking.
A person is lying down in the dark and looking at a smartphone held above their face.
What are we supposed to do when experts look at the same data yet reach starkly different conclusions?
A digital rendering of a black hole with a glowing, distorted light accretion disk around its event horizon in space, set against a pitch-black background.
A recent paper in the journal Physical Review Letters claims to prove that a "kugelblitz" is not possible.
perseid meteor shower mt lemmon adam block
Peaking on the night of August 11/12, up to 100 bright meteors per hour will be visible. Here's how to make the most of it.
Close-up of a tree trunk with natural holes resembling a face, set against a green leafy background. This curious formation invites contemplation on the legal personhood of nature itself.
The idea of awarding legal personhood to nature has received renewed attention in the contemporary environmental justice movement, but much contention remains.
Illustration of a rocket with a blue circle logo crashing into the ground, resembling the Quibi crash, with financial chart elements in the background.
Quibi was so focused on foresight they forgot the basics of hindsight.
A collage of four glitchy video stills featuring the same man with various dramatic expressions, overlaid with green and purple digital distortion effects. A play button icon rests in the center, hinting at the lessons of hindsight within.
The rise and fall of Josh Harris — the genius who anticipated the digital revolution just a little too soon.
A man's portrait, segmented with rectangular sections of a vintage yellow world map overlaid on the image, embodies a sense of leadership. He is wearing glasses and a tie, exuding an air of wisdom and hindsight.
David Novak — the cofounder, and former CEO and chairman, of Yum! Brands — celebrates the benefits of active, lifelong learning.
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.
Big Think asks startup legend and VC heavyweight Ben Horowitz to reflect on his bestseller "The Hard Thing About Hard Things."
lunar horizon glow clementine
Earth, the only rocky planet with a large, massive satellite, is greatly affected by the Moon. Destroying it would cause 7 major changes.
Close-up of a human eye on the left, and a blurred image of a person without clothing on the right, depicting themes that border on pornography.
Everyone has to learn about sex somehow. Today, billions of people are learning about it from porn.