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Develop leaders in your organization with Big Think+ classes
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Create premium thought leadership and storytelling with Big Think Creative
Advertising Campaigns
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Live Events
Bring your people and ideas to life with Big Think Events
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Latest Videos
A library of interviews with the world’s biggest thinkers.
7mins
Kepecs uses rats to study the neurology of decision-making because their brains are evolutionarily similar to ours but much simpler. Likewise, if you wanted to learn how cars worked, you […]
4mins
Being able to retain some sense of control during his kidnapping—albeit small—helped Alpert overcome the trauma of the experience.
5mins
Humanizing yourself and creating a bond with your captor enhances your chances of survival, but sometimes you will also need to be deceptive.
7mins
The NYPD and FBI both agree that Alpert should not have survived his kidnapping; Alpert shares with us the strategies he used to stay alive.
7mins
Former federal prosecutor Stanley Alpert was kidnapped at gunpoint on his 38th birthday, kept his wits during the harrowing 25-hour ordeal, convinced his captors to release him, and then helped […]
24mins
A conversation with the writer and kidnapping survivor.
2mins
Every choice we make involves calculating the risk versus the reward, but if we mistake luck for skill, as was the case on Wall Street, these calculations become meaningless.
3mins
Survival expert Laurence Gonzales explains how to increase your chances of surviving some of the most common deadly scenarios.
2mins
The characteristics that increase your chance of survival in extraordinary situations can also help you manage the daily trials of life.
2mins
The rule of thumb is that humans can survive three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food, but there are always extraordinary cases—some have gone […]
2mins
The people who are likely to survive against all odds are not “weekend warriors” but rather those who are persistent, prepared, organized, and calm in extreme situations.
13mins
A conversation with the author and survival expert.
Controlling other people’s dreams may be science fiction, but there are ways to control our own dreams, Harris says.
2mins
For patients with narcolepsy, a loud noise or a strong emotion can trigger the body to fall asleep instantly.
3mins
During REM sleep, the body is paralyzed so that the sleeper does not act out his dreams, but when this phenomenon malfunctions, bizarre sleep disorders like sleep paralysis and REM […]
5mins
Harris practices Imagery Rehearsal Therapy, which teaches patients to take control of nightmares by rehearsing them during the day and changing them into positive scenarios. 90% of Harris’s patients report […]
2mins
Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung believed that dreams were windows into the unconscious, but many scientists now believe they may have no deeper meaning.
3mins
In the pre-modern world, circadian rhythms were synched with the rising and setting of the sun, but modern life requires many to adjust their internal clocks to accommodate alternative sleeping […]
3mins
For many with insomnia, their minds are like stereos at maximum volume with no off switch.