Personal Growth

Everyone’s favorite astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, has put forward a bold new vision for American space exploration, defending budget increases as a solution to a struggling economy.

In our increasingly complex world we can’t afford to silo ourselves off in little online and offline subcultures.

Having a great depth of knowledge in a specific field limits your problem solving abilities to what has worked in the past, says entrepreneurial polymath Naveen Jain. 

What’s the Big Idea? If the scientific consensus had been right, Sue Barry would still be seeing in 2-D. Barry was born with strabismus, a condition which prevented her eyes from gazing in […]

Last October, strangely personal fliers started appearing around New York City. They looked like this:  When I first saw them, they really caught my attention. For some reason, I wasn’t […]

It is no stretch to say that Jonathon Keats is Big Think’s favorite living artist, experimental philosopher, or what you will. This is a man who has attempted to genetically […]

What’s the Big Idea? The words “Renaissance man” get thrown around a lot these days, but Nathan Myrhvold’s career evokes the true spirit of the phrase. More polymath than genius, the […]

Human culture is infused with narratives of immortality, from a bodily resurrection to an eternal soul. While modern science has put the quash on those, we might achieve something nobler…

Humans are natural story tellers, but why? Author Jonathan Gotschall says we tell stories for evolutionary and cultural reasons. We even tell stories to ourselves—and call it our identity. 

Are shared human values possible and sustainable without religion? This is the subject of life philosopher Alain de Botton’s new book, Religion for Atheists.

Editorial Note: This is a guest contribution from KristenWolf, author of The Way, which was was recently selected by Oprah for her Reading List. Everyone grows up under the shadow of religion. No matter your […]

If you feel that life is uncomplicated, easy, satisfying, carefree, under control – then this post is not for you. On the other hand, if you feel frustrated, anxious, deeply […]

In this interview with Big Think, Henry Rollins talks about how important it is to travel, and how his time on the ground around the world has allowed him to connect more deeply with the issues he cares about and break stereotypes while doing it.

Editorial note: This is a guest post by Faisal Saeed Al-Mutar, the 20 year old Iraqi founder of the Global Secular Humanist Movement – a forum for the discussion of rational […]

A survey of over 1,200 European business executives yielded five general personality types which differ according to their role in the innovation process. Which do you best fit?

An old astronomy technique is being revamped thanks to the recent discovery of so many new planets near our solar system, giving us an idea if there is life on the planet by looking at its moon. 

Kadam Morten Clausen is a Buddhist teacher in the New Kadampa tradition, a modern, Western tradition grounded in Tibetan Buddhism.  Here he discusses how Buddhism differs from the Judeo-Christian religions. […]

Editor’s Note: Dennis N.T. Perkins is an explorer and author of Leading at The Edge, Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition. “For scientific discovery give me Scott; […]

Sometimes there can be a gap between identifying what you naturally gravitate toward and how that translates into your full-time work. Here are three steps to help you bridge that gap.

Sometime in the first half of the first millennium B.C.E. a group of Canaanites distinguished themselves from their neighbors by advocating the worship of Yahweh alone, to the exclusion of […]

In 2018, the space program is scheduled to launch a probe that will get closer to the sun than any craft before it, measuring data in the star’s outer corona where temperatures are hellish. 

Serial entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal says the best way to become a company that is one day over taken is to have a new idea. Witness the history of Kodak and Blackberry, he says. 

A collection of the world’s top engineers and tech entrepreneurs will be invited to a hush-hush conference somewhere in the Pacific this May. Eccentric venture capitalists are behind the idea.

What’s the Big Idea? Peggielene Bartels was an administrative assistant in Washington D.C. when she got a phone call informing her she’d been elected King of Otuam, the Ghanian fishing […]

A Meditation on the Indefinable Nature of the Divine God is Love. How many times have we heard the word “love” being used to define that which is ultimately indefinable? […]

Surely the greatest scientific discoveries are the product of imaginative energy and curiosity no less intense or pure than that which animates Hamlet or King Lear. Still, the petty squabble between Reason and Imagination that began in the 17th century persists . . .

What’s the Big Idea? Without realizing it, James Cameron has produced a parable about all forms of human communication, says David Bellos, a renowned translator and finalist for the 2012 National […]

Although some counterintuitive thinking was necessary to realize that planet GJ 1214b is full of water, scientists now believe there is a greater hope for extraterrestrial life than ever before. 

Pamela Druckerman, an American journalist and author, learned some unique lessons about child rearing while living in Paris with her husband and three kids. She noticed that French children are […]

An investment firm that generously funds startups in their early stages is creating a powerful network of resourceful and experienced businesspeople. Could it replace corporations?