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Philosophy
Rich is brilliant at his job. He completes work in half the time of his coworkers. Should he have to sit at his desk just as long?
It’s not enough just to stay current and competitive with AI — you’ll also need to build a long-term strategy.
Claims circulating on the Internet — some from dentists' websites — suggest toothpaste isn't necessary for dental health. Is that true?
Since 1962, humanity has been sending messages into space with the intent to make contact with intelligent extraterrestrials. Are those efforts worth the risks?
When is a rabbit not a rabbit? When it's a thought experiment designed to reveal the tricky tango of language and concepts.
Is the Universe finite or infinite? Does it go on forever or loop back on itself? Here's what would happen if you traveled forever.
Japanese thought can’t be easily characterized by just a few books — but this essential guide is a great place to start.
No matter how good our measurement devices get, certain quantum properties always possess an inherent uncertainty. Can we figure out why?
"Hardcore History" host Dan Carlin recently spoke with Big Think about the history of humanity's drive to create — and whether or not we can control it.
There are so many problems, all across planet Earth, that harm and threaten humanity. Why invest in researching the Universe?
Step back from the AI maelstrom and explore Lem’s "Summa Technologiae" for a detached look at technology’s role in human evolution.
This map samples some of the digits that make up the DDC system, invented by the brilliant but flawed Melvil Dewey.
The old certainties of “business as usual” have been crushed by disruption — here's a strategy for resilience.
The Universe is 13.8 billion years old, going back to the hot Big Bang. But was that truly the beginning, and is that truly its age?
The "first cause" problem may forever remain unsolved, as it doesn’t fit with the way we do science.
Kahneman was a world-changing psychologist — even with his lesser known ideas on life satisfaction.
Some physicists are besot with the multiverse, but if we can't detect these other universes, how seriously should we take them?
First derived by Emmy Noether, for every symmetry a theory possesses, there's an associated conserved quantity. Here's the profound link.
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.
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.