Latest Articles

Latest Articles

The newest essays, interviews, and features from Big Think.

4mins
Philosopher Daniel Dennett explains how the optimal strategy for winning a game of rock-paper-scissors isn't necessarily the optimal strategy for leading one's life.
6mins
Philosopher Daniel Dennett take us through one of his "favorite bad thought experiments," an investigation of free will based on the sci-fi film "The Boys From Brazil."
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Dennett rebuts the argument that neuroscience implies we don't have free will.
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Philosopher Daniel Dennett investigates the theories related to how the brain represents ideas and beliefs while pondering an Inception-like situation in which beliefs are surgically inserted into a patient's brain.
"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral."
The holiday season is a zone of attrition in which a lot of folks get dumped by their significant others. In a post from earlier today, Alice Pfeiffer of The Guardian says to let your wardrobe help you through your breakup.
The revelation that Santa Claus is more an idea than a man can be a major turning point in a child's life. Is he a "training-wheels Jesus" or a way to introduce children to cynical disillusionment?
Daniel Dennett: An Introduction to Intuition Pumps Daniel Dennett, one of the best-known living philosophers and a professor at Tufts University, believes it’s time to unmask the philosopher’s art and […]
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Daniel Dennett explains how intuition pumps (often referred to as "thought experiments") help guide philosophers' curiosity and thinking.
In today's Washington Post, a successful writer and former teacher offers a simple quiz for teachers to determine whether they're cut out for the position.
The Universe looks bizarre: a plethora of galaxies, many clusters, but very little bigger than that. What made it so? “We are incredibly heedless in the formation of our beliefs, […]
Religion can be an uncomfortable topic for some people to discuss, especially with co-workers. Researchers say, hiding part of your identity may be damaging your mental well-being and office relationships.
A good leader surrounds him- or herself with the brightest team possible.
Websites aren't just bits of information floating in nothingness until appearing on a computer screen. They can have significant environmental impacts that ought not go unchecked.
Extroverts received the harshest evaluations from introverts, who consistently undervalued their outspoken coworkers' abilities and contributions.
"Good science and good art are always about a condition of awe … I don’t think there is any other function for the poet or the scientist in the human tribe but the astonishment of the soul."
Reported cases of chickenpox, measles, mumps, and whooping cough are in the news. The keys to preventing their spread include vaccination and keeping away from communicable individuals.
3mins
Instead of returning anger with anger, Robert Thurman advocates the practice of lovingkindness, a translation of the Pali word mettā that is found in the original Buddhist texts.
The German car maker hopes to roll out this new technology by 2020. You'll never have to hand your keys to the valet again.
Understanding how science uses certain key concepts can make the difference between parroting pure speculation and taking an evidence-based approach.