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Cultural Evolution
New evidence suggests the corvid family has surprising mental abilities.
7mins
Expanding your worldview starts with understanding your brain. Stanford neuroscientist David Eagleman explains.
Unlikely Collaborators
5mins
Who decides what’s “normal” and why? As social norms increasingly dissolve, here’s how to find true guidance.
The annual rite of passage has always been more about the ambivalence of adults than the amusement of children.
Religion is a product of, and not a source of, our evolutionary moral dispositions.
In a world of rising cynicism, a celebration of our capacity to create, adapt, and thrive.
8mins
Biological evolution in humans has slowed. Can AI, culture wars, and modern tech explain why?
The rise and fall of Josh Harris — the genius who anticipated the digital revolution just a little too soon.
Everyone has to learn about sex somehow. Today, billions of people are learning about it from porn.
Alan Turing and Christopher Strachey created a ground-breaking computer program that allowed them to express affection vicariously when so doing publicly, as gay men, was criminal.
3mins
The mind-blowing theory that everything is evolving—from minerals to music—explained in 3 minutes by a Carnegie scientist.
While weltschmerz — literally "world-pain" — may be unpleasant, it can also spur us to change things for the better.
“I believe that in the future, there will be a Francis Bacon of AI art,” Saltz tells Big Think. “We just haven't seen that artist yet.”
"Values emphasizing tolerance and self-expression have diverged most sharply, especially between high-income Western countries and the rest of the world."
A poignant, 2,000-year-old burial in northern Italy could be the latest evidence of an ancient friendship.
11mins
“Forget about essences.” Philosopher Daniel Dennett on how modern-day philosophers should be more collaborative with scientists if they want to make revolutionary developments in their fields.
8mins
What do aliens, apes, and orchestras all have in common? Professor Michael Spitzer explains how they each help us understand the origins of music.
Architect and brand innovator Kevin Ervin Kelley sounds the alarm for workplace culture — and argues for a “big bang” collision of forms and shapes.
A volley of new insights reignites the debate over whether our choices are ever truly our own.
The essential element needed for innovation is creative dissonance — and the keys to unlocking it were forged by bankers in Italy.
An influential series of books argues that the history of the world is the history of generations. Is it right?
After my father died, my journey of rediscovery began with the Czech language.
Borrow the same technique that produced McDonald’s, the Hawaiian pizza, the Beatles’ greatest hits, and Shakespeare’s rhetorical flair.
The history of hell doesn't begin with the Old Testament. Instead, hell took shape in the 2nd century from Mediterranean cultural exchange.
Once at the pinnacle of Amsterdam’s art scene, Rembrandt van Rijn eventually found himself outcompeted by his own students.
There's nothing like the end of the world to make you a philosopher.
Though over three billion people speak an Indo-European language, researchers are not sure where the language family originated.
Sweet, bitter, salty, sour. These are the four basic tastes we were taught in grade school. But there is a fifth: umami. And it's everywhere.
To this day, one cult believes that Lemuria was real, and that its people left us the sacred wisdom to revive their advanced civilization.