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Ideas that inspire a life well-lived
Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional?
Life’s biggest questions rarely have simple answers. That is precisely why they continue to occupy the world’s most thoughtful minds. The Well is a place to engage those questions, drawing on insights from science, philosophy, and the humanities.
Created by the John Templeton Foundation in partnership with Big Think, The Well brings together ideas that inspire deeper understanding and a more considered approach to living.
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The Templeton Foundation supports interdisciplinary research and catalyzes conversations that inspire awe and wonder.
Why Einstein called awe the fundamental emotion
If you’ve gotten goosebumps when hearing a story about a stranger’s selfless heroism, or you’ve felt your chest swell at a concert, when the audience’s voice and the musician’s instruments align, you have felt awe. And, according to professor Dacher Keltner, who has spent his life studying it, it’s one of humankind’s most unifying traits:
Adolescents actively shape the transformation of religion and become the bearers of new religious patterns, worldviews, and values.
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In the beginning, genes weren't needed.
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Considering the perspectives of others has important benefits for individuals and for society. There is one easy way to do it.
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Intellectual humility demands that we examine our motivations for holding certain beliefs.
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"I am an anthropologist, and for years, I have spoken to people who have had these experiences."
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The answer to the age-old philosophical question of whether there is meaning in the Universe may ultimately rest upon the power of information.
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From politics to culture, we blame “tribalism” for humanity’s problems. This explanation is entirely wrong.
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Today’s young people are intelligent and kind, but they are overworked and burned out.
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An interview with CRISPR co-discoverer and Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Jennifer Doudna.
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When justice isn’t tempered by something such as mercy, forgiveness, or nonviolence, efforts to make society more equitable often backfire.
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Just as there are many types of believers, there's not only one type of atheist.
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The emergence of life in the universe is as certain as the emergence of matter, gravity, and the stars. Life is the universe developing a memory, and our chemical detection system could find it.
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It might seem like science and faith are at war, but the two have a historical synergy that extends back in time for centuries.
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Pain makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. What's puzzling is why so many of us choose to seek out painful experiences.
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You've heard of Stephen Hawking. Ever heard of Renata Kallosh? Didn't think so.
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Science doesn't fit neatly into ideology.
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Willpower alone likely isn't enough to replace a bad habit with a good one.
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Signals from the environment, such as those detected by your sense organs, have no inherent psychological meaning. Your brain creates the meaning.
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Popular media often frame scientists as having a cold, sterile view of the world. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
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Mathematics and religion both embody awe-inspiring, eternal truths.
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