What is the strongest motivation for space exploration today? According to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, it's the promise of economic return.
Search Results
You searched for: Daniel Harding
The human brain tends to jump to conclusions based on limited information.
While President Obama’s position on gay marriage is “evolving,” (UPDATE: has officially evolved) punk rocker Henry Rollins is unambiguous about his support. Rollins sees gay rights as civil rights, and […]
If we wish to honor our 21st century gods (technology, capitalism), we might do well to hold a competition that celebrates the achievements of the human mind, not the body.
Why would so many people take time off from their smart phones to watch the Transit of Venus through a telescope? According to Bill Nye, it is our human desire to explore. If we ever lose that desire, we're not going to move forward as a species.
Get this: there is a startup called I Dream of Space that is selling posters for $10 that also come with the chance to win a trip to space. In […]
In this Q&A with Dr. Meg Jay, the clinical psychologist explains why the twenties matter, and how to make the most of them.
How much should Facebook be worth? According to a recent poll, two-thirds of active investors think Facebook will be overvalued when it goes public today, while half of all Americans […]
When I heard the news of Jonah Lehrer’s fabrications on Monday — indiscretions that led to an apology and his resignation from the New Yorker on Tuesday — my jaw fell. Like […]
One of the great mysteries of art is why it exists. Although our desire to create and enjoy art is so widespread that it appears as natural as eating or […]
More or less anybody who has ever done anything newsworthy can cite, as Henry Rollins can, some turning point at which they made a risky decision that paid off, and a lifelong sense of mission not easily derailed by minor failures.
Once upon a time, we were taught that people are basically rational—at least when they have to be, at the stock market, the voting booth, the courtroom, the hospital, the […]
The questions in this quiz are adaptations of items from research studies from the 1960s to the 1980s, initiated by Daniel Kahneman and his late research partner, Amos Tversky.
Humor fosters community and builds character, two virtues that educational reformers neglect.
Amid the tiny din of two-hundred micturating rodents, Ralph X. Bumblefutz goggled in disbelief at a discovery that would forever lay waste to the West’s most cherished ideas about incontinence. […]
How do we develop the aptitude to separate spam from knowledge? James Lawrence Powell tells Big Think you need to be "your own spam filter."
Imagine if Rip Van Winkle fell asleep in 1992 and woke up yesterday. He would probably be amazed at the extent to which our national conversation on reproductive health has […]
We all know the standard script surrounding divorce. A young person learns his/her parents are divorcing and their fantasy of a happy family is shattered. Falling into despair they under-perform […]
Big Think juxtaposes two unique perspectives on the state of the union. Tea Party pioneer Keli Carender writes the blog Redistributing Knowledge, which is coming soon to Big Think. Eric Sanders is a vocal supporter of the Occupy Movement.
The latest Quinnipiac poll has Rick Santorum ahead of Mitt Romney 35-26 among Republicans and voters who lean Republican. National polls are not by themselves be good indicators of who […]
With SETI's search for extraterrestrial life running on all cylinders again, two questions must be raised: How do we make contact? And how do we make meaningful contact? Big Think asked Bill Nye, aka, 'The Science Guy,' who heads The Planetary Society.
Respected Republican leaders—such as Tom Coburn and Eric Cantor—are rallying around Romney now. They don’t see a viable alternative, and they see that prolonging “the process” isn’t going to benefit […]
Jonathan Gottschall says stories are good for us. I’ll soon apply myself full-time to story-writing, so you might suppose I’d find this an encouraging thought, but I don’t. It’s an annoying thought. […]
Our BIG THINKING friend, Robert de Neufville, wonders why more Republicans aren’t voting in the primaries. His wondering, of course, is hopeful. It must mean either that the ferocity of the […]
This ski season seems to be defying the laws of physics. When atmospheric temperatures are higher — which they have been — there should be more moisture in the air, […]
The current model of China manufacturing cheap goods for American consumers could soon be history. In the meantime, the human cost of the transition to the robot economy continues to be deeply disturbing, as evidenced by the ongoing drama at Foxconn.
Astrology is condemned in the Bible as pagan foolishness, sinful idolatry, even the handiwork of demons. Yet according to the Gospel of Matthew, the magi learned of the baby Jesus' existence from a star!
We survey the groundbreaking ideas of 2011 from experts such as Daniel Kahneman, Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis, Sal Khan, Daniel Burrus, Michio Kaku, Steven Pinker and many others.
Law Think examines timely and timeless legal and human rights issues facing the UK and the world. Leon Glenister was part of a consultation group at the University of Cambridge which […]
Via Dangerous Intersection, I saw this TED lecture by Daniel Kahnemann, based on his book Thinking Fast and Slow, about the conflict between the “experiencing self” and the “remembering self”. […]