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Philosophy
The challenges of setting out in a new direction can be overwhelming — but we can learn to navigate the inflection moments.
Autocrats like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin fear democracy, yet go to great lengths to present themselves as democratic leaders.
Joseph Campbell argued that nearly every myth can be boiled down to a hero’s journey. Was he right?
“Chicago May” was a classic swindler who conned her way around the world in the early twentieth century. She was also a sign of hard times.
A rift in thinking about who should control powerful new technologies sent the brothers on diverging paths. For one, the story ended with a mission to bring science to the public.
Ditch the old brain vs. heart assumptions, and instead think about a heart-led brain.
There are a wide variety of theoretical studies that call our Standard Model of cosmology into question. Here's what they really mean.
In logic, 'reductio ad absurdum' shows how flawed arguments fall apart. Our absurd Universe, however, often defies our intuitive reasoning.
A small Ohio town tried to escape America’s addiction to rectangular grids. It didn’t last long.
8mins
James Suzman lived with a tribe of hunter-gatherers to witness how an ancient culture survives one of the most brutal climates on Earth. His learnings may surprise you.
The least exciting of all eclipses, a penumbral lunar eclipse, foreshadows the spectacular show that April 8th's total eclipse will bring.
CRISPR study helps answer a question that has long puzzled scientists.
Or are cults the religions we find distasteful?
How would you feel about working like a Lutheran or a Cistercian?
Happiness is not a five-star holiday. It's often the result of struggle — and asking for help, as author Stephanie Harrison recently told Big Think.
No matter how you define the end, including the demise of humanity, all life, or even the planet itself, our ultimate destruction awaits.
The secret sauce of humor is incongruity. AI knows this as well as we do.
6mins
Pathologically busy people clamoring for happiness. Founder of HATCH Monica Parker explains how we can do so much better than that.
Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb claimed to track down and find alien spherules on the ocean bottom. Here's the sober truth.
Philosophy isn't stuck in the past. Here are five texts to connect you with its ongoing dialogue.
People who have a regional accent might prefer robots who speak like them over generic voices.
Neuroscientist Tali Sharot recently spoke with Big Think about a two-step method for escaping the dark sides of habits.
When all your teammates fall for "the emperor's new clothes," the results can be disastrous — here's how to bust the groupthink.
The National Defense Education Act of 1958 meshed with white anxiety about the desegregation of schools.
Here's the case for why science can't keep ignoring human experience.
Alli Webb, co-founder of Drybar, has a message for up-and-coming leaders: Embrace the mess!
Genes are sometimes called the “blueprint of life,” but that doesn't make them the behavioral playbook.
In a recent paper, biologists outlined a three-part hypothesis for how all life as we know it began.
7mins
Is information intrinsic in our universe? NASA’s Michelle Thaller explains.
At work we're often asked to be decisive — but how can we make an informed choice without complete information?