Words of Wisdom — January 15, 2014

Susan Sontag on Creativity and Boredom

“The life of the creative man is lead, directed and controlled by boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes.” – Susan Sontag (born on this date in 1933)

bigthinkeditor

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

“The life of the creative man is lead, directed and controlled by boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes.” – Susan Sontag (born on this date in 1933)

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Progress

The Great Progression, 2025-2050

The world isn’t ending! But we are likely at the beginning of a profound transformation.

Career Development

The Best of the Best: Big Think+ in 2020

For many, 2020 will not be remembered as a “best of” much. We don’t need to repeat the reasons here; it’s sufficient to point out that a 100-year pandemic was […]

Neuropsych

The hunger-boredom paradigm explained by scientists

Johns Hopkins University professor Susan Carnell explains the neuroscience behind eating out of boredom (and how to stop).

Smart Skills

4 ways to inject more creativity into your craft (and life)

Sometimes you have to take the road less traveled.

The Future

Why A.I. is a big fat lie

The Dr. Data Show is a new web series that breaks the mold for data science infotainment, captivating the planet with short webisodes that cover the very best of machine learning and predictive analytics.

Up Next

Starts With A Bang

Breaking the Speed of Light

It’s easier than you might think, and we’ve been doing it for over a century. “The doctors realized in retrospect that even though most of these dead had also suffered from […]