Belief
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Instead of differentiating people on the basis of their “religion” (as Christians, Muslims, Hindus, etc.), what if we differentiated people according to their temporal orientation? We could divide people into Pasters, Presentists, and Futurians. Let’s see what happens. Pasters. These are people ... Read More
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What's the Big Idea? Is the Internet making us stupid? Will our capacity for contemplation be fried by the minute-to-minute updates of Facebook, Twitter, and instant messaging? Actually, no, says James Gleick, author of The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood. The Internet has ... Read More
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Our anxiety about information overload is unwarranted, says James Gleick, even in the digital age. The internet will cause a readjustment in the way we think, but so did the telegraph, the radio, and the telephone. Read More
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On Mother’s Day, in a sermon to his flock at the Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina, Pastor Charles Worley revealed his plan to rid America of its homosexuals: Build a great, big, large fence — 150 or 100 mile long — put all the lesbians in there....Do the same thing for the ... Read More
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This interview was originally broadcast live on bigthink.com on May 3, 2012. Newberg is a pioneer in the neuroscientific study of religious and spiritual experiences, or neurotheology. Here he discusses his research on what happens in the brain during religious ecstasy and answers a few questions from viewers. Read More
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What's the Big Idea? Before neuroscience and quantum physics, there was Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. The 19th century German idealist revolutionized Western thought, and every great thinker since has been working in his shadow, says Slavoj Žižek, the Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic ... Read More
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Today we're pleased to announce our second Big Think Book of the Month, the dazzlingly ambitious Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism , out May 22, 2012 from Verso Books. Slavoj Žižek has been called "the most dangerous philosopher in the West" for his analysis of ... Read More
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Editor's note: The following is an edited excerpt from Slavoj Žižek's book, "Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism." [One of the only schools] of thought that fully accepts the inexistence of the big Other is Buddhism. Is the solution then to be found in Buddhist ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? New scientific evidence supports the advice that keeping your mind off a painful experience, whether physical or emotional, is an effective way to reduce the severity of physical pain you feel. In an experiment at the University Medical Center in Hamburg, Germany ... Read More
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What's the Big Idea? David Eagleman's Laboratory for Perception is located on the ground floor of Baylor College of Medicine, but the vibe is more creative think tank than clinical academic enclave. The walls are enamelled in dry-erase paint and marked up with impromptu sketches, arrows, and ... Read More
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We’re entering a very interesting stage of human history right now where we can start importing technology to enhance our natural senses or perception of the world, says neuroscientist David Eagleman. Read More
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Common Sense Media is an advocacy group for proper media digestion for kids. The website offers reviews of video games, movies, websites, apps, and much more along with parenting tips and articles that are meant to increase a parent's knowledge of what they call "the other parent": the media ... Read More
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What’s the Big Idea? The average consumer associates 3M with tape – a product so integral to our daily lives that we barely notice it anymore. But in 1925, as an alternative to the unwieldy, glue-covered sheets of paper it made obsolete, the product was a stroke of genius. In fact, 3M is ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? According to a recent wave of books on developments in neuroscience, just about everything we thought we knew about ourselves is wrong. From the actions and reactions of chemicals in our brains to the decisions we tell ourselves are made rationally, the influence ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? Most of us imagine a rosy future most of the time, but only recently did scientists devise a way to test how we "remember the future." By first encouraging individuals to create visions of the future, then asking them to recall those visions, cognitive scientists ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? New psychological research shows that people are better at controlling their desires when they are thinking about God. Scientists at Queen’s University in Ontario, prompted people to think about God, albeit subconsciously, then gave people various tests of self ... Read More
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Philistines are people who have something to be embarrassed about but nevertheless do not feel embarrassed. In common usage a philistine ought to feel embarrassed primarily because he lacks “culture”: cultivated taste in prestigious leisure activities. This usage proves self-defeating in societies ... Read More
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Votifi is an online platform that encourages positive, nuanced political exchange. After you sign up, the website sends you daily polls through your browser or mobile device and creates a political profile of you based on your responses. The site also breaks down basic political issues and ... Read More
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The cover headline caught my eye, and I surprised both the elderly leafletter and myself when I took a copy of the “Watchtower” magazine on my way out of the subway station this morning. Religion and politics is one of my favorite subjects. What do the Jehovah’s Witnesses have to say? What ... Read More
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What's the Latest Development? Recent sociological research suggests that non-religious people are motivated more by compassion when acting charitably than those who self-identify as religious. In one experiment, non-religious adults who were shown an emotionally powerful video were more likely ... Read More
