Jonny Thomson
Jonny Thomson taught philosophy in Oxford for more than a decade before turning to writing full-time. He’s a staff writer at Big Think, where he writes about philosophy, theology, psychology, and occasionally other subjects when he dares step out of his lane. His first book, Mini Philosophy, is an award-winning, international bestseller, and has been translated into 20 languages. His second book, Mini Big Ideas, was published in 2023.
How the brain decides what to store and what to forget.
If you had perfect foreknowledge of the blessings and tragedies that will come in your life, would you make the same choices anyway?
What if you are the only person in the world who can think?
It is difficult to save a species that does not seem to care about saving itself.
You are only ever a few days away from your demise.
Utopia is like a John Lennon song but with golden toilets.
How the British obsession with tea triggered wars, led to bizarre espionage, and changed the world — many times.
The ethical debate over zoos is going to grow louder. There might be a solution that involves robots.
If something is “true,” it needs to be shown to work in the real world.
From “mutilated males” to “wandering wombs,” dodgy science affects how we view the female body still today.
Your life is far more arbitrary than you might think.
Unstable politics and virtue signaling are responsible for creating bureaucratic nightmares.
Attempts to normalize abnormal development could prevent individuals in need of help from seeking it.
These bizarre mollusks have the ability to regenerate their bodies and to absorb other organisms’ attributes.
The wise, the old, and the experienced matter to a full and happy life.
Apart from divine authority, is there an ethical basis for right and wrong?
Traditional Chinese medicine and Vietnamese culture are driving the pangolin to extinction.
Life is governed by unspoken rules. How do you know you’re following them correctly?
Milgram’s experiment is rightly famous, but does it show what we think it does?
When does a healthy desire for wealth morph into greed? And how can we stop it?
Why saying, “I don’t know,” might be the best thing you can do.
Hippocrates overturned conventional wisdom and invented modern medicine.
Diogenes was no doubt odd, but Cynicism might just help our overcrowded lives.
A famous thought experiment from the 1970s is more relevant today than ever before.
Truth might be hard to find, but we can take steps to eliminate common cognitive biases.
Is working from home the ultimate liberation or the first step toward an even unhappier “new normal”?
Seek pleasure and avoid pain. Why make it more complicated?
What’s the difference between brainwashing and rehabilitation?
