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Critical Thinking
"For every PhD there is an equal and opposite PhD."
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.
Grandmasters and drug dealers have one thing in common: They are many steps ahead of their rivals.
A brief guide to habits that separate deep understanding from superficial knowledge — and how to cultivate them.
Timothy Caulfield, a leading science communicator, discusses the challenges of combatting misinformation in an age of information overload.
"Ultimately, the choice rests with each individual: whether to take the convenient route of allowing AI to handle our critical thinking, or to preserve this essential cognitive process for ourselves."
Yondr CEO Graham Dugoni unpacks the technological zeitgeist in this exclusive Big Think interview covering media ecology, leadership, AI, human connection, and much more.
Astronomer Adam Frank reflects on some responses to his recent appearance on the Lex Fridman Podcast.
Participants’ brains revealed they were doing a kind of “neural replay” of the game they had been manipulated to win.
Confronting your "absolute stupidity" is a sign you're on course to learning something new and wonderful.
When appraising human behavior, people tend to forgo the lessons of psychology in favor of assumption and anecdote.
Alex Edmans, professor of finance at the London Business School, warns us to be mindful of the incentives surrounding misinformation — including our desire to believe it.
The tech world’s fixation on artificial intelligence has spawned beliefs and rituals that resemble religion — complete with digital deities, moral codes, and threats of damnation.
Encouraging thoughtful responses over impulsive reactions can help prevent AI exploitation in decision-making.
Plato's cave metaphor illustrates the cognitive trap of ignorance, where we may be unaware of the limitations of our understanding.
The late philosopher suggested adding a couple of “Occam’s heuristics” to your critical thinking toolbox.
The electoral reform also known as instant-runoff voting promises bridge-building and broad appeal instead of culture war and gridlock.
Changing the narrative on false memories might be surprisingly simple.
6mins
“People will claim that something is rigorous because it's by an authority figure or it's written in a book. But anyone can write a book.”
Why human attempts to mechanize logic keep breaking down.
Thinking of a number between one and ten? Here's how predictable human responses create the illusion of telepathy.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Four startup founders explain how to derive lessons from the past while still looking ahead to what’s possible.
Carving out time for useful reflection is among the most valuable of leadership disciplines, explains “questionologist” Warren Berger.
The evidence is far less clear than popular media might lead you to believe.
Just being a pessimist, cynic, or apathetic doesn't make you a nihilist.
A new framework describes how thought arises from the coordination of neural activity driven by oscillating electric fields — a.k.a. brain “waves” or “rhythms.”
Voltaire's wonderful satire, Candide, remains a useful work-life antidote to bogus platitudes and naive optimism.
A physicist, a psychologist, and a philosopher walk into a bar and discuss a framework for thinking better in the 21st century.
6mins
With great genius comes great rigidity. Professor Barabara Oakley on how to stay mentally agile — and get smarter as a result: