bigthinkeditor
Is it our cognition or wonder that elevates us to the ranks of humanity? According to the late fantasy author Terry Pratchett, our imagination is what sets us apart.
Words of wisdom from Nikola Tesla: “There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact.”
“I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success. … Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.”
There’s a reason Tesla is so in vogue right now. The dude was basically science’s Nostradamus, predicting globalized wireless communication nearly eight decades before it came to fruition.
“A single ray of light from a distant star falling upon the eye of a tyrant in bygone times may have altered the course of his life, may have changed the destiny of nations, may have transformed the surface of the globe, so intricate, so inconceivably complex are the processes in Nature.” — Nikola Tesla, 1893
Words of wisdom from American aviator Amelia Earhart: “Never do things others can do and will do, if there are things others cannot do or will not do.”
Words of wisdom from Amelia Earhart: “The time to worry is three months before a flight. Decide then whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying. To worry is to add another hazard.”
Words of Wisdom from Amelia Earhart prior to her final flight: “I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others.”
Emerson championed individualism and critiqued the countervailing pressures of society.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874–1965) was a British politician who was the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.
Franklin Pierce Adams (1881 – 1960) was an American columnist, well known for his wit and his newspaper column, “The Conning Tower.”
After reading Mike Slosberg’s gripping page-turner, you will never again view the idealistic process of adoption in quite the same light.
Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Deny Evolution If adults want to deny evolution, sure. That’s fine. Whatever. But those adults better not make their kids follow in […]
“I would like to be remembered as someone who was not afraid to do what she wanted to do, and as someone who took risks along the way in order to achieve her goals.”
“We need to go back to the discovery, to posing a question, to having a hypothesis and having kids know that they can discover the answers and can peel away a layer.”
The Nobel Prize-winning mathematician whose life inspired the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind was killed today, along with his wife, in an automobile accident.
Words of wisdom from Kurt Vonnegut: “The telling of jokes is an art of its own, and it always rises from some emotional threat. The best jokes are dangerous, and dangerous because they are in some way truthful.”
Words of wisdom from American poet Walt Whitman: “I think of few heroic actions, which cannot be traced to the artistical impulse. He who does great deeds, does them from his innate sensitiveness to moral beauty.”
“In the depth of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back.”
Singularity University’s Peter Diamandis discusses one way in which virtual reality — a burgeoning exponential technology — will disrupt unexpected sectors of culture and society.
In collaboration with Exponential Finance
The transcendental philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson stressed that maintaining an open mind requires the ability to understand that contrary opinions are not innately steeped in ill will.
Human intelligence is richer than logic: It includes “being funny, being sexy, expressing a loving sentiment — maybe in a poem or in a musical piece.”
Think not in terms of the bottom line, but the skyline.
“Whenever racial discrimination exists it is a tragic expression of man’s spiritual degeneracy and moral bankruptcy. Therefore, it must be removed not merely because it is diplomatically expedient, but because it is morally compelling.”
What if Bill Nye were your warm, rational uncle? What if you could informally ask his opinion on anything from black holes to the zombie apocalypse? Well now you can.
“No ruler is ever really dethroned by his subjects. No hand but his own ever takes the crown from his head. … When he ceases to lead … the revolt which casts him from power is only the outward manifestation of his previous abdication.”
Today, anyone who is driven by a dream to solve a problem has the opportunity to change the world. This wasn’t the case in past eras.
“To do successful research, you don’t need to know everything; you just need to know one thing that isn’t known.”
What will historians say about our time 250 years from now? Lawrence Summers asks this question in a thought-provoking lecture about the evolution of ideas.