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Ideas that inspire a life well-lived
Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional?
Life’s biggest questions rarely have simple answers. That is precisely why they continue to occupy the world’s most thoughtful minds. The Well is a place to engage those questions, drawing on insights from science, philosophy, and the humanities.
Created by the John Templeton Foundation in partnership with Big Think, The Well brings together ideas that inspire deeper understanding and a more considered approach to living.
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The Templeton Foundation supports interdisciplinary research and catalyzes conversations that inspire awe and wonder.
The universe isn’t random – it’s something stranger
Why does life keep getting more complex? Why doesn't evolution get stuck? Physicist Stephen Wolfram has been working on this for decades. Turns out the answer is more simple (and more strange) than we expected.
Signals from the environment, such as those detected by your sense organs, have no inherent psychological meaning. Your brain creates the meaning.
John Templeton Foundation
Popular media often frame scientists as having a cold, sterile view of the world. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
John Templeton Foundation
Mathematics and religion both embody awe-inspiring, eternal truths.
John Templeton Foundation
People believe that slow and deliberative thinking is inherently superior to fast and intuitive thinking. The truth is more complicated.
John Templeton Foundation
Many atheists think of themselves as intellectually gifted individuals, guiding humanity on the path of reason. Scientific data shows otherwise.
John Templeton Foundation
Society treats teenagers as if they’re a problem to be solved, but the truth is that we have to prepare them to solve our problems. It’s time that we change the narrative.
John Templeton Foundation
Awe is a powerful force, a fact that is both exciting and terrifying.
John Templeton Foundation