Big Think

The illusion of shared reality | Anil Seth & Jonny Thomson

10 nov 2025

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt_desc “Consciousness is fundamental. It's a fundamental property of the world that we inhabit, a fundamental property of the universe.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, How to grow deeply happy | Jonny Thomson ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WShJeNX7W8 What does it mean to be conscious, and why does it feel like something to be you? Neuroscientist Anil Seth argues that consciousness isn’t a mysterious spark but a deeply biological process, one that depends on prediction, perception, and the body’s constant negotiation with the world. In this conversation with philosopher Jonny Thomson, he explores how our brains don’t passively observe reality, but rather actively construct it. 0:00 Non-human consciousness 1:40 The current state of consciousness science 2:10 What is consciousness? 4:05 The similarity of conscious experiences 5:48 Consciousness in the brain 11:23 Technology for measuring consciousness 16:03 Measuring consciousness levels 20:33 Pragmatic physicalism and functionalism 23:25 Pansychism 28:25 Emergence 32:35 AI and consciousness 36:49 The difference between non-human animals and AI 41:49 Is artificial consciousness possible? 48:12 Consciousness in the body and outside the brain Consciousness in the future and AI 50:27 Audience Q&A 50:41 Could computers could simulate the brain and body? 59:55 Why are you skeptical about asserting the dependency of life to the consciousness? 1:03:31 If consciousness is so clinical, does it undermine free will? Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/science-of-consciousness/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Anil Seth: Anil Seth is a neuroscientist, author, and public speaker who has pioneered research into the brain basis of consciousness for more than 20 years. He is the author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness. About Jonny Thomson: Jonny Thomson taught philosophy in Oxford for more than a decade before turning to writing full-time. He’s a columnist at Big Think and is the award-winning, bestselling author of three books that have been translated into 22 languages. Jonny is also the founder of Mini Philosophy, a social network of around two million curious, intelligent minds. He's known all over the world for making philosophy accessible, relatable, and fun.

Sean Carroll: Einstein’s most radical thought

7 nov 2025

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-bti-carroll-rT7DMb3ZucU “The messy reality of it is that all of these very smart people, including Isaac Newton, were talking to other people.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Watch Sean Carroll's Full Interview with Big Think ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TBNJyztai0 Albert Einstein altered the way we think about reality itself, and we often think of him as the most important physicist. But even his breakthroughs were part of a larger, tangled conversation among scientists stretching from Aristotle to Maxwell to Minkowski. Sean Carroll, physicist and philosopher at Johns Hopkins University, traces how the universe emerged not from solitary genius, but from centuries of dialogue, error, and correction. 0:00 Einstein — underrated? 1:00 The network of genius 1:16 Classical mechanics 1:48 Space and time 2:21 Electromagnetism 2:59 The speed of light 4:20 Spacetime 5:38 Special theory of relativity 6:31 Inverse square law of gravity 7:56 General theory of relativity 9:07 Schwarzschild solution 10:12 Quantum field theory 13:22 Quantum mechanics 16:16 Why physics is a conversation Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/sean-carroll-einstein/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Sean Carroll: Dr. Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy — in effect, a joint appointment between physics and philosophy — at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. Most of his career has been spent doing research on cosmology, field theory, and gravitation, looking at topics such as dark matter and dark energy, modified gravity, topological defects, extra dimensions, and violations of fundamental symmetries. These days, his focus has shifted to more foundational questions, both in quantum mechanics (origin of probability, emergence of space and time) and statistical mechanics (entropy and the arrow of time, emergence and causation, dynamics of complexity), bringing a more philosophical dimension to his work.

Your life’s most important moments are flukes, not fate | Brian Klaas

6 nov 2025

“When you start to accept that you have profound influence on the world, but very limited control, you start to see the world differently.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, We control nothing, but we influence everything | Brian Klaas: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtn2Wxai-ug We like to believe that everything happens for a reason. But what if that belief is a comforting illusion? Political scientist Brian Klaas argues that randomness, not reason, drives much of human life. The stories we tell ourselves about cause and effect aren’t reflections of truth, rather, they’re coping mechanisms to make chaos feel like order. 0:00 The limits of control 0:30 Does everything happen for a reason? 1:58 Science and chaos 2:27 Religion and the scientific revolution 4:23 Making sense of patterns 6:56 “The delusion of individualism” Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/myth-of-fate?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more. https://members.bigthink.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business. https://bigthink.com/plus/great-leaders-think-big/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Brian Klaas: Dr. Brian Klaas is an Associate Professor in Global Politics at University College London, an affiliate researcher at the University of Oxford, and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He is also the author five books, including Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters (2024) and Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us (2021). Klaas writes the popular The Garden of Forking Paths Substack and created the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast, which has been downloaded roughly three million times. Klaas is an expert on democracy, authoritarianism, American politics, political violence, elections, and the nature of power. Additionally, his research interests include contingency, chaos theory, evolutionary biology, the philosophy of science and social science, and complex systems. In addition to Fluke and Corruptible, Klaas authored three earlier books: The Despot's Apprentice: Donald Trump's Attack on Democracy (Hurst & Co, 2017); The Despot's Accomplice: How the West is Aiding & Abetting the Decline of Democracy, (Oxford University Press, 2016) and How to Rig an Election (Yale University Press, co-authored with Professor Nic Cheeseman; 2018).

Not all gratitude is created equal. A psychologist explains

4 nov 2025

This interview is an episode from ‪@The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the ‪@TempletonFoundation. Subscribe to The Well on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/thewell-youtube Watch all of Schnitker’s interviews ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_B7bI1QVmJD3Txt76o1eObfk0ICzrVWD Gratitude connects us, but how we express it might matter more than we think. Baylor professor of psychology and neuroscience Sarah Schnitker explores how practicing gratitude can lead to stronger relationships and greater well-being. Her lab found that gratitude expressed through prayer may offer even more benefits than journaling or speaking it aloud, and that feeling connected to something larger may help combat today’s growing loneliness. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/the-well/how-gratitude-changes-you/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description_bigthink ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Sarah Schnitker: Dr. Sarah Schnitker, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University and Director of the BRIGHTS Center, researches virtue development in youth. Specializing in patience, self-control, and gratitude, she has 100+ publications, $10M in grants, and mentors doctoral students in science and virtue. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About The Well Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds. Together, let's learn from them. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter ► https://bit.ly/thewellemailsignup ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Well on your favorite platforms: ► Facebook: https://bit.ly/thewellFB ► Instagram: https://bit.ly/thewellIG

The greatest revolution in the history of medicine | Andrew Steele

3 nov 2025

“Over the last 10 or 15 years, scientists have really started to understand the fundamental underlying biology of the aging process. And they broke this down into 12 hallmarks of aging.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Why 2025 is the single most pivotal year in our lifetime | Peter Leyden ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5k72A30kUc We track age by the number of birthdays we’ve had, but scientists are arguing that our cells tell a different, more truthful story. Our biological age reveals how our bodies are actually aging, from our muscle strength to the condition of our DNA. The gap between these two numbers may hold the key to treating aging – which could help save 100,000 lives per day and win us $38 trillion dollars. 00:00 Rethinking longevity 01:27 Understanding aging 02:58 Biological age and epigenetics 04:29 New frontiers in longevity science 08:04 Future possibilities and ethical questions 10:24 The moral debate around living longer Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/aging-science-steele/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Andrew Steele: Dr. Andrew Steele is a scientist, writer and campaigner based in Berlin, author of Ageless: The new science of getting older without getting old, and Director and Co-Founder of The Longevity Initiative.

Hollywood lied to you about Ancient Rome. Here’s the truth | Mary Beard: Full Interview

31 okt 2025

“Everyone's image of [Ancient Rome] is based on modern movies. In some ways, I think those were rather impressive, but they got some things terribly wrong.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Would you survive a week in Ancient Rome? | Mary Beard: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxtxmG_H-To We've inherited the history of Ancient Rome through movies, ruins, and shallow stories. The truth is far messier, says classicist Mary Beard. The hidden side of Roman life that screens rarely capture is chaotic; crowded streets teeming with Romans whose everyday lives were shaped by social hierarchies and familial obligations. Mary Beard unpacks what archaeology, literature, and even shoes tell us about the Romans’ daily lives. From the role of slaves in dressing elites to the rowdy crowds at chariot races, she shows how we’ve underestimated their complexity. If you'd like to see Mary Beard discuss these ideas live, go to: https://www.instantclassicspod.com/events 0:00 You’re picturing Ancient Rome all wrong 1:22 Mary Beard: scholar of Ancient Rome 20:41 The Roman triumph: the greatest celebration of all time 40:27 The Romans who shaped the world 41:25 Augustus 45:46 Virgil 47:22 Julius Ceasar 48:42 Cincinnatus 50:53 The Gracchii brothers 53:27 Marcus Tullius Cicero 55:19 Emperor Nero 57:45 Tacitus 1:06:01 Understanding “The Odyssey” Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/myth-truth-ancient-rome/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Mary Beard: Winifred Mary Beard, OBE, FBA, FSA is an English Classical scholar. She is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge, a fellow of Newnham College, and Royal Academy of Arts professor of ancient literature. She is also the classics editor of The Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog, "A Don's Life," which appears in The Times as a regular column. Her frequent media appearances and sometimes controversial public statements have led to her being described as "Britain's best-known classicist."

How accepting impermanence can end the struggle to “fix” your life | Robert Waldinger

30 okt 2025

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt_desc “The idea is that we move from a place of wanting the world to conform to what we like [towards] not needing other people to be different from who they are.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, 3 powerful mind states: Flow state, good anxiety, and Zen Buddhism ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvHne-U4lcw Most of us feel we have miles to go with self improvement. That we want to become calmer, wiser, more finished. What if this pursuit actually keeps us trapped from that becoming? Zen teacher and psychiatrist Robert Waldinger argues that enlightenment isn’t a destination or a rare mystical state. Rather, it's the ever-shifting recognition of the present moment. This quiet state of noticing, Waldinger says, can be extremely liberating, freeing us from the pressure of becoming. 0:00 Everyday Zen: mindfulness, impermanence, and compassion 0:45 Zen and community 2:52 Awakening 3:28 Impermanence 5:44 The Four Noble Truths 10:14 Having a beginner’s mind 15:22 The concept of enlightenment Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/zen-101/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Robert Waldinger: Robert Waldinger, MD is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a practicing psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and a Zen teacher and practitioner. For the last two decades, Waldinger has been the director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development. This study, conducted over more than 85 years, has analyzed the entire lives of 724 families to determine the activities, behaviors, and dynamics that enhance a person’s life-long well-being. Waldinger has dedicated his career to examining these elements and discovering what brings true fulfillment to human existence. He is the author of several books, including his most recent, The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness.

You’ll never escape life's problems. Why that’s actually liberating | Oliver Burkeman for BT+

29 okt 2025

Become a Big Think member and watch Oliver Burkeman's full class: http://bigthink.com/my-classes/productivity-for-mortals/ Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Why you’ll never “get on top of everything” | Oliver Burkeman for Big Think+ ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LMaT4rUdG4 Most of us are quietly waiting for our life’s problems to subside. We feel that after “solving” them, everything will be perfect, and we’ll achieve complete happiness. In actuality, learning to live in the problems that come our way can make us happier, and expecting a frictionless life actually causes more strife for us. Journalist Oliver Burkeman reframes challenges as the path to a more meaningful life. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/ftm_episode/the-problem-trap/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Oliver Burkeman: Oliver Burkeman is a bestselling author and journalist. He is best known for Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals (2021), a self-help book on reframing productivity for happiness. He also publishes The Imperfectionist, an email on productivity, mortality, the power of limits, and building a meaningful life in an age of bewilderment.

The investment traps that destroy wealth and how to avoid them with Barry Ritholtz | Full Interview

24 okt 2025

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt_desc “Let me walk you through the biggest traps that you should be aware of that are a danger to your financial wellbeing.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The most powerful way to think about money ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugIuHWc6Nuc You probably think investing is about markets and strategy, but Barry Rithotz argues that it’s actually about biology. Our brains evolved to spot danger, not to manage portfolios, and the instincts that once kept us alive now push us towards panic and greed. That same wiring that told our ancestors to run from predators now tells modern investors to sell at the bottom. 0:00 Why your brain makes you a bad investor 2:28 Using our brains in ways they weren’t built for 3:57 Cognitive biases that derail investing 6:52 Emotional Bias 8:22 Gamestop and speculative bets 10:22 Narrative fallacy 12:01 Overconfidence bias and the Dunning-Kruger effect and 12:44 Confirmation bias 14:56 Conformity bias 16:25 Loss aversion 17:47 Anchoring 18:41 Tribal bias 20:19 Recency bias 23:51 Investing is a loser’s game. Here’s how to win 24:28 “The Loser’s Game” 27:28 2% of stocks are responsible for all returns 30:21 The odds against you picking successful stocks 31:52 Maximizing your ability to compound 32:02 Automate 33:03 Diversification 34:23 Costs 37:48 Rebalancing 39:54 Ignoring forecasts 42:15 Market timing 44:29 How financial media sets investors up for failure 46:06 The attention economy 46:55 What is margin debt? 48:03 How negative media influences our investments 50:30 Denominator blindness 54:07 Key qualities in financial media 56:35 Social media and investing Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/barry-investing-mistakes/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Barry Ritholtz: Barry L. Ritholtz is co-founder, chairman, and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC. Launched in 2013, RWM is a financial planning and asset management firm, with over $6.4 billion dollars in assets under management. RWM was named ETF Advisor of the Year, is on the Financial Times Top 300 Advisors in the US, and is the 4th fastest-growing RIA in America. His career history is filled with cutting-edge innovation and influential new ideas: He was one of the earliest traders to embrace behavioral economics, he created one of the first and most popular market blogs; his podcast was groundbreaking and among the earliest in the investment spaces. Named one of the “15 Most Important Economic Journalists” in the United States, he has been called one of the 25 Most Dangerous People in Financial Media. He writes a weekly column for Bloomberg Opinion (2013- 2021) and wrote a twice-monthly column on Personal Finance and Investing for The Washington Post (2011-2016). His latest book, “How Not To Invest: The ideas, numbers, and behaviors that destroy wealth – and how to avoid them” was published on March 18, 2025.

What the absence of aliens on Earth really tells us | David Kipping

23 okt 2025

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt_desc “Deep down the natural endpoint of this whole goal of looking for planets is to answer the question: are we alone?” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The great quest for extraterrestrial life | David Kipping Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI0cvzQiuvI Astronomer David Kipping explores humanity’s oldest question: if the universe is vast and ancient, why haven’t we found anyone else in it? He argues that our longing to discover another Earth often clouds our reasoning, and that the greatest challenge in the search for life isn’t technology, but temptation. 0:00 Are we alone? 1:19 The Drake equation 2:08 The problem with the Rare Earth hypothesis 2:56 What is life? 5:55 The Copernican principle 7:08 The weak anthropic principle 8:57 The Kardashev scale 10:58 Hart’s Fact A 15:49 How often does simple life become complex? 17:45 Using biosignatures and technosignatures to find alien life 21:01 Our past quests for alien life 23:10 The difficulty in proving a negative Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/search-alien-life/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About David Kipping: David Kipping is an Associate Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University and the founding director of the Cool Worlds Laboratory, where he leads groundbreaking research on exoplanets, exomoons, and the search for extraterrestrial life. As a pioneer in the detection of moons around planets outside our solar system, his work has been published in prestigious scientific journals and has significantly advanced our understanding of distant planetary systems. Kipping employs sophisticated statistical methods to analyze data from NASA's Kepler and TESS missions, extracting subtle signals that reveal the properties of these distant worlds. Beyond academia, he created and hosts the popular Cool Worlds YouTube channel, which has attracted over 750,000 subscribers through its accessible explorations of cosmic frontiers and speculative astronomy. After receiving his PhD from University College London and holding positions at Harvard University, Kipping has established himself as a respected researcher who effectively bridges rigorous scientific investigation with compelling public science communication.

The backwards logic of censorship

21 okt 2025

This interview is an episode from ‪@The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the ‪@TempletonFoundation. Subscribe to The Well on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/thewell-youtube Watch Mchangama's next interview ► Even AI is self-censoring. Here's why that matters. https://youtu.be/Cz-EOCb1pKA Historian and free speech advocate Jacob Mchangama explains how suppressing voices often has the opposite effect. From the crucifixion of Jesus fueling Christianity to Barbra Streisand accidentally amplifying photos of her Malibu mansion, attempts at censorship often strengthen what they aim to silence. Mchangama argues that while free speech can be messy and ugly, it remains essential to preserve its many benefits. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Jacob Mchangama: Jacob Mchangama founded and leads The Future of Free Speech, is a research professor at Vanderbilt, and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). A prolific commentator and author on free speech and human rights, he created the podcast “Clear and Present Danger” and wrote the 2022 book “Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About The Well Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds. Together, let's learn from them. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter ► https://bit.ly/thewellemailsignup ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Well on your favorite platforms: ► Facebook: https://bit.ly/thewellFB ► Instagram: https://bit.ly/thewellIG

Why 2025 was the single most pivotal year in our lifetime | Peter Leyden

20 okt 2025

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fti-leyden-w5k72A30kUc "We're living in an extraordinary moment in history. We are at a moment here in 2025 where we have world historic game-changing technologies now starting to scale." Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The alarm bells are sounding for young men. Will we listen? | Richard Reeves ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnA98N6CjBg We are living through the collapse of the old world, and the quiet construction of a new one. From artificial intelligence and clean energy to bioengineering and digital governance, the core systems that defined the last century are rapidly being dismantled and replaced. But this isn’t just about technology. According to futurist Peter Leyden, we’re at a historic turning point: One of the rare moments in American and global history when everything gets reimagined at once. 0:00 An extraordinary moment in history 1:05 Wired magazine 2:09 Technology adoption curve 2:53 80 year cycles 3:26 Post-war era 5:08 Gilded age 6:59 Founding era 8:24 The arrival of AI 9:42 The rise of clean energy 10:52 The rise of bioengineering 13:45 The beginning of a shift References: Article: Ziegler, M. S.; Trancik, J. E. Re-Examining Rates of Lithium-Ion Battery Technology Improvement and Cost Decline. Energy Environ. Sci. 2021, 14, 1635–1651. DOI: 10.1039/D0EE02681F URL: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/artic... Dataset: Ziegler, M. S.; Trancik, J. E., 2021, "Data series for lithium-ion battery technologies", https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/9FEJ7C, Trancik Lab Dataverse, V1, UNF:6:sVT2vBwWolbQL4BxsTSDUg== [fileUNF] Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/great-inflection-2025/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Peter Leyden: Peter Leyden is a longtime tech expert and thought leader on the future. He came to San Francisco to work with the founders of WIRED magazine at the beginning of the digital revolution and has followed the front edge of technological change every step since—including into the AI revolution today. In addition to being an influential writer and author, Leyden is a keynote speaker who has explained the implications of new technologies and the positive possibilities to come to audiences throughout America and Europe on a monthly basis over the last 25 years. Leyden also founded several startups that pioneered fields transformed by new technologies and currently advises senior leaders in strategic foresight through his company Reinvent Futures. Get more on all of this on his websites: http://peterleyden.com and https://peterleyden.substack.com/

The science of romantic love, explained by an anthropologist | Helen Fisher

17 okt 2025

“No matter what their gods were, what they did for a living, what they wore, the songs they sang, everything varies except love, and everybody loves.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The science of sex, love, and attachment | Dr. Helen Fisher: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORAaaBevtT4 From the beginning of humanity, cultures and societies vary in tradition, religion, art, philosophy, and customs. One constant that remains unchanging? The essential need for love and partnership. Dr. Helen Fisher explains the drive for love from an anthropological perspective, exploring the science of attraction, heartbreak, rejection, and how our dopamine factories send us on lifelong quests to find “the one.” 0:00 The origins of romantic love and attachment 02:53 Love across cultures and time 04:39 The evolutionary roots of love 07:45 Discovering the brain in love 10:00 What the brain reveals about love 12:05 Love and addiction Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/universality-of-love/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Helen Fisher: Helen E. Fisher, Ph.D. biological anthropologist, was a Senior Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, and a Member of the Center For Human Evolutionary Studies in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University. She wrote six books on the evolution, biology, and psychology of human sexuality, monogamy, adultery and divorce, gender differences in the brain, the neural chemistry of romantic love and attachment, human biologically-based personality styles, why we fall in love with one person rather than another, hooking up, friends with benefits, living together and other current trends, and the future of relationships — what she called: slow love.

Sean Carroll: Physics will challenge your ideas of free will

16 okt 2025

“The universe clicks along in perfect accord with the laws of physics forever.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Sean Carroll explains why physics is both simple and impossible | Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TBNJyztai0 What if the universe is a machine, and every moment in our past, present, and future is already encoded in the positions of its particles? Physicist Sean Carroll explores the unsettling implications of classical mechanics, from Newton’s laws to Laplace’s thought experiment, showing how determinism challenges the very idea of free will. 0:00 Is reality a clockwork machine? 0:57 The determinism of classical mechanics 2:03 The spherical cow and simplified models 2:58 The universe as an equation 6:53 When the clockwork universe meets the human mind Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/sean-carroll-clockwork-universe/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Sean Carroll: Dr. Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy — in effect, a joint appointment between physics and philosophy — at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. Most of his career has been spent doing research on cosmology, field theory, and gravitation, looking at topics such as dark matter and dark energy, modified gravity, topological defects, extra dimensions, and violations of fundamental symmetries. These days, his focus has shifted to more foundational questions, both in quantum mechanics (origin of probability, emergence of space and time) and statistical mechanics (entropy and the arrow of time, emergence and causation, dynamics of complexity), bringing a more philosophical dimension to his work.

Willpower likely won’t save you from your bad habits. Science explains why

15 okt 2025

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt_desc We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators. Your brain makes habits stick. The good news? The same science shows how to replace the bad ones. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Why are bad habits so hard to break? Neuroscientist Carl Hart, PhD, journalist Charles Duhigg, and psychologist Adam Alter, PhD explain how your brain wires habits as cue-routine-reward loops that control nearly half of your daily life. They show why willpower alone rarely works, why technology fuels new forms of addiction, and why habits can only be replaced, not erased. Read more from this interview ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/brain-briefs-addictions-and-habits-explained/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description Explore the Perception Box series hub ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more. https://members.bigthink.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business. https://bigthink.com/plus/great-leaders-think-big/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Carl Hart, PhD: Dr. Hart is an Associate Professor of Psychology in both the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at Columbia University, and Director of the Residential Studies and Methamphetamine Research Laboratories at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. A major focus of Dr. Hart’s research is to understand complex interactions between drugs of abuse and the neurobiology and environmental factors that mediate human behavior and physiology. About Charles Duhigg: Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of The Power of Habit, which spent over three years on bestseller lists and has been translated into 40 languages, and Smarter Faster Better, also a bestseller. Mr. Duhigg writes for The New Yorker magazine and is a graduate of Yale University and the Harvard Business School. He has been a frequent contributor to CNBC, This American Life, NPR, The Colbert Report, NewsHour, and Frontline. About Adam Alter, PhD: Adam Alter is an Associate Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, with an affiliated appointment in the New York University Psychology Department.

The psychology of loneliness

14 okt 2025

This interview is an episode from ‪@The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the @TempletonFoundation. Subscribe to The Well on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/thewell-youtube Watch all of Kross’s interviews ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_B7bI1QVmJCicywliIA6EcD5U1ks8HZN Popular media has made loneliness look bad, but is it really? Author and psychologist Ethan Kross explains his study of loneliness, finding that it is actually our response to loneliness – rather than the act of being alone itself – that has negative effects. If we reframe loneliness as an opportunity instead of a threat, it can have surprising benefits for our creativity, well-being, and relationships with ourselves. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/the-well/the-science-of-being-alone-vs-loneliness/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description_bigthink ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Ethan Kross: Ethan Kross is one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the conscious mind. An award-winning professor and bestselling author in the University of Michigan’s top-ranked Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business, he studies how the conversations people have with themselves impact their health, performance, decisions and relationships. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About The Well Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds. Together, let's learn from them. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter ► https://bit.ly/thewellemailsignup ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Well on your favorite platforms: ► Facebook: https://bit.ly/thewellFB ► Instagram: https://bit.ly/thewellIG

Men are dying at alarming rates | Richard Reeves

10 okt 2025

“It's certainly clear that the issues of boys and men haven't gone away in the last few years. If anything, they're getting even more attention, which is good when it's the right kind of attention.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The real reasons young men are checking out of society | Richard Reeves: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLIEpbLWWao The conversation around masculinity is a political battlefield, devolving into extreme caricaturization: uncritical celebration or outright demonization. Where does the nuance of this discussion live? Richard Reeves argues that this binary leaves out the real story: how changing economies, shifting cultural expectations, and the absence of strong male role models have left many young men without a clear path forward. 0:00 Blaming young men 1:24 Rethinking how we talk about masculinity 2:45 The rise in male deaths from drugs 3:17 The male rate of suicide 4:14 Male representation in different professions 6:10 Men and purpose 6:52 Median annual earnings of men 8:54 Men and the “get rich quick” scheme 10:31 Online gambling addiction 12:15 What does non-toxic masculinity look like? 13:17 Policy for young males 14:46 Male support systems 19:08 GPA distribution amongst boys and girls Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/richard-reeves-masculinity-crisis/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Richard Reeves: Richard V. Reeves is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he directs the Future of the Middle Class Initiative and co-directs the Center on Children and Families. His Brookings research focuses on the middle class, inequality and social mobility. Richard writes for a wide range of publications, including the New York Times, Guardian, National Affairs, The Atlantic, Democracy Journal, and Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Dream Hoarders (Brookings Institution Press, 2017), and John Stuart Mill – Victorian Firebrand (Atlantic Books, 2007), an intellectual biography of the British liberal philosopher and politician. Dream Hoarders was named a Book of the Year by The Economist, a Political Book of the Year by The Observer, and was shortlisted for the Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice. In September 2017, Politico magazine named Richard one of the top 50 thinkers in the U.S. for his work on class and inequality. A Brit-American, Richard was director of strategy to the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2012. Other previous roles include director of Demos, the London-based political think-tank; social affairs editor of the Observer; principal policy advisor to the Minister for Welfare Reform, and research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research. Richard is also a former European Business Speaker of the Year and has a BA from Oxford University and a PhD from Warwick University.

How fiction reveals truths journalism cannot | Lawrence Wright

9 okt 2025

“As a reporter, you can look into the eyes of the people you're talking to and try to evaluate what they're thinking when they say what they say. But you are not really gonna get into their brain. There's only one artistic form that allows you to do that. “ Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, 12 traits emotionally intelligent people share (You can learn them) ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr8sLxde1m8 What can fiction reveal that history and journalism leave hidden? Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Lawrence Wright turns to the novel to explore the lives caught in conflict in Israel and Palestine. His book The Human Scale uses narrative to confront the unequal ways lives are valued in this region, asking whether storytelling can expose truths that politics can obscure. 0:00 The Human Scale 1:37 Deriving truth and meaning from fiction 2:26 The uneven weight of human life 4:28 Why narrative can get into the mind of another 6:28 Confronting uncomfortable truths 10:27 The setting of The Human Scale Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/lawrence-wright-truth-fiction/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Lawrence Wright: Lawrence Wright is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, journalist, and screenwriter whose work focuses on politics, religion, and culture. A longtime staff writer for The New Yorker, Wright is best known for The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Beyond his landmark works on extremism, Wright has explored the complexities of Scientology in Going Clear, the global response to pandemics in The End of October, and the role of Texas as both a cultural crucible and a political bellwether in God Save Texas.

Stop fighting your anxiety and start using it | Jesse Eisenberg for Big Think+

8 okt 2025

Become a Big Think member and watch Jesse Eisenberg’s full class: https://bigthink.com/my-classes/leading-through-anxiety-5/leading-through-anxiety-6/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership-class&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-lesson-eisenberg-h-MHHlZqVaI “The way my mind works is just out of anxiety and catastrophization.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The smartest people have mastered these 6 core skills | Michael Watkins for Big Think+ ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32z8Ax1j-Q4 Anxiety doesn’t vanish with practice. In fact, in actor Jesse Eisenberg’s experience, it can grow even sharper even after repetition. Eisenberg’s stories from stage and film sets reveal what performance anxiety teaches us about how the brain works, and how we can rewire it to work better for us. Rather than treating panic as a flaw, the actor argues it can be redirected into focus and authenticity. 0:00 Performance anxiety 0:32 Recognize catastrophic thinking 3:57 Normalize your panic 6:24 Reframe negative feelings as motivation Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/jesse-eisenberg-anxiety/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Jesse Eisenberg: Jesse Eisenberg is an Academy Award nominated actor and an acclaimed playwright and author. Eisenberg’s film credits include Roger Dodger, The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland, Zombieland, The Social Network, Now You See Me, The Double, Night Moves, The End of Tour, American Ultra, Louder Than Bombs, Batman v. Superman, Now You See Me 2, Café Society, Justice League, The Hummingbird Project, The Art of Self Defense, Zombieland: Double Tap, Resistance, Vivarium,Wild Indian, Manodrome, and Sasquatch Sunset which sees him play the urban legend Sasquatch. On the small screen, Eisenberg was recently seen playing the titular character of ‘Toby Fleishman’ in the FX limited series Fleishman Is in Trouble based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s best-selling novel of the same name. Eisenberg made his directorial debut with A24’s When You Finish Saving the World, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival to glowing reviews and screened as a part of Critics Week at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. The film is based on the Audible Original of the same name, both of which were written by Eisenberg. Eisenberg’s second directorial effort, A Real Pain, recently had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film, which Eisenberg stars alongside Kieran Culkin, tells the story of two estranged cousins who travel to Poland after their grandmother dies to see where she came from and end up joining a Holocaust tour, won Eisenberg the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for his screenplay The film was bought at the festival by Searchlight Pictures for a release later in the year. Eisenberg has written four plays, including “The Spoils,” which had a box-office record-breaking run-on West End. He also wrote and starred alongside Vanessa Redgrave in his play “The Revisionist,” and “Asuncion.” His play, “Happy Talk” starring Susan Sarandon and Marin Ireland opened April 2019 at the Signature Theater in New York. Born in New York, Eisenberg is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker, the author of the collection, Bream Gives Me Hiccups from Grove Press and the Audible Original When You Finish Saving the World, which won “Best Original Work” at the 2021 Audie Awards.

The power of criticism — and the cost of silence

7 okt 2025

This interview is an episode from ‪@The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the ‪@TempletonFoundation Subscribe to The Well on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/thewell-youtube Watch Mchangama’s next interview ► True free speech, explained in 6 minutes https://youtu.be/F4HTlRwMdlI America’s real danger isn’t free speech. It’s silence. Founder of The Future of Free Speech Jacob Mchangama argues that free speech is not a threat but society’s strongest safeguard against violence. Suppressing expression creates a pressure cooker that can push people toward violent action when peaceful dissent is denied. While acknowledging its harms — especially in the digital age — Mchangama warns that censorship is far worse. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/the-well/the-power-of-criticism?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description_bigthink ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Jacob Mchangama: Jacob Mchangama founded and leads The Future of Free Speech, is a research professor at Vanderbilt, and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). A prolific commentator and author on free speech and human rights, he created the podcast “Clear and Present Danger” and wrote the 2022 book “Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About The Well Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds. Together, let's learn from them. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter ► https://bit.ly/thewellemailsignup ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Well on your favorite platforms: ► Facebook: https://bit.ly/thewellFB ► Instagram: https://bit.ly/thewellIG

How trauma stays in the body and how to remove it with Bessel van der Kolk | Full Interview

3 okt 2025

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt_desc "One of the largest mitigating factors against getting traumatized is who is there for you at that particular time." Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, How the body keeps the score on trauma | Bessel van der Kolk for Big Think+ ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTefkqYQz8g Trauma doesn’t vanish when danger does. According to psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, the body acts as an archive, holding fear, pain, and survival instincts long after the moment passes. Van der Kolk explains why conventional treatments for trauma fall short, and the promising new pathways to healing that science is revealing. 0:00 Chapter 1: Trauma, explained 1:21 PTSD in veterans 2:09 Connecting with others after trauma 4:28 The prevalence of trauma 5:35 What is trauma? 8:19 The greatest protector of trauma 9:37 Trauma in the brain 11:46 Automatic responses 14:56 The brain and our experiences 16:52 Re-experiencing trauma 19:58 Brain development and trauma 27:29 Chapter 2: Shaping childhood trauma 28:27 Reenacting trauma in relationships 31:41 Understanding each other’s trauma 34:59 Long term effects of child abuse 36:34 Chapter 3: How to treat trauma 36:57 “A post-alcoholic culture” 37:27 Zoloft, Prozac, and other PTSD drugs 39:15 The Adverse Childhood Experiences study 40:48 Drug addiction 43:02 Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) 45:48 Unconventional trauma treatments 46:30 The brain-body connection Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/trauma-brain-body-connection/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Bessel van der Kolk: Bessel van der Kolk MD spends his career studying how children and adults adapt to traumatic experiences and has translated emerging findings from neuroscience and attachment research to develop and study a range of treatments for traumatic stress in children and adults.

Brian Cox: Why even Einstein doubted the existence of black holes

2 okt 2025

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-seg-cox-hjR8rHjqS9A "Could black holes be the key to a quantum theory of gravity, a deeper theory of how reality, of how space and time works? Well, I think so." Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Brian Cox: The quantum roots of reality | Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO41iURud9c Black holes sit at the crossroads of the two most powerful ideas in physics: relativity and quantum theory. Physicist Brian Cox explains why the mysterious giants force us to confront the deepest questions about space, time, and the structure of reality itself. Cox traces the unlikely history of black hole thought, from the 18th-century notion of “dark stars” to Stephen Hawking’s breakthroughs. 0:00 What are black holes hiding? 2:29 The history of black holes 3:33 Mitchell and Laplace 5:10 Einstein and black holes 9:35 The implications of black holes 12:49 What lies at the center of a black hole? 16:29 Hawking and modern thought about black holes Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/black-holes-history/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Brian Cox: Brian Cox obtained a first class honors degree in physics from the University of Manchester in 1995 and in 1998 a Ph.D. in High Energy Particle Physics at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg. He is now Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Manchester, The Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Brian is widely recognized as the foremost communicator for all things scientific, having presented a number of highly acclaimed science programs for the BBC watched by billions internationally including ‘Adventures in Space and Time’ (2021), ‘Universe’ (2021), ‘The Planets’ (2018), ‘Forces of Nature’ (2016), ‘Human Universe’ (2014), ‘Wonders of Life’ (2012), ‘Wonders of the Universe’ (2011) and ‘Wonders of the Solar System’ (2010). As an author, Brian has also sold over a million books worldwide including ‘Black Holes’, ‘Universal: A Guide to the Cosmos’, ‘Quantum Universe’ and ‘Why Does E=mc2?’ with co-author Professor Jeffrey Forshaw. He has set several world records for his sell-out live tours, including his most recent tour Horizons which has taken in venues across the globe.

I study patience in a lab. Here’s what I’ve found.

30 sep 2025

This interview is an episode from ‪@The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the ‪@TempletonFoundation. Subscribe to The Well on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/thewell-youtube Watch Schnitker’s next interview ► Is virtue worth pursuing? A psychologist explains https://youtu.be/qIUnvXZHkkg Feeling more impatient lately? It’s not entirely your fault. Sarah Schnitker, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University, explains how a culture of instant gratification — fueled by our use of smartphones and on-demand everything — has made patience feel unnecessary. But her research shows that patience helps people stay regulated, persist through challenges, and feel more satisfied with their progress. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/the-well/the-science-of-patience/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description_bigthink ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Sarah Schnitker: Dr. Sarah Schnitker, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University and Director of the BRIGHTS Center, researches virtue development in youth. Specializing in patience, self-control, and gratitude, she has 100+ publications, $10M in grants, and mentors doctoral students in science and virtue. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About The Well Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds. Together, let's learn from them. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter ► https://bit.ly/thewellemailsignup ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Well on your favorite platforms: ► Facebook: https://bit.ly/thewellFB ► Instagram: https://bit.ly/thewellIG

Millennials: the immobile generation | Derek Thompson

26 sep 2025

“This is a world in which we've essentially given ourselves the tools to stop the construction of the most important product in American lives in the places where Americans often most want to move.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, One generation’s solutions, this generation’s disease | Derek Thompson: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dn6NVGOu0w Behind the outcome of the 2024 election lies a deep fracture in the American dream: the choice between affordable places that stall mobility, and dynamic cities that lock people out with impossible prices. 0:00 The “affordability election” 1:17 America’s housing crisis 2:39 The opposite of The American Dream 2:57 Big cities, housing supply, the rise of NIMBY 5:50 Homeowners vs. non-homeowners 8:29 A tragedy of good intentions 12:28 A new age of institutional renewal Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/upwards-immobility/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Derek Thompson: Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic and host of the podcast Plain English. He is the author of Hit Makers and the co-author of Abundance alongside Ezra Klein, which explores the case for renewing the politics of plenty in the modern world.

The brain mechanisms that unlock human potential | Steven Kotler

25 sep 2025

"If you're interested in human performance, what you want is something that's reliable and repeatable, and thus you want neurobiology because neurobiology gives you mechanism." Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, The science of effortlessness: How to activate flow | Steven Kotler: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZIn9tfeQ2I Most explanations of human performance lean on psychology or philosophy, but best-selling author Steven Kotler argues that these frameworks are only metaphors. If you want repeatable, measurable science, you need to use biology. By understanding brain networks, Kotler explains how we can engineer peak states like flow, creativity, and focus for peak performance. 0:00 The biology of peak performance 3:28 The functional networks of the brain 4:33 Fear and attention circuitry in the brain 6:20 How to turn on peak performance 7:13 Motivation, learning, creativity, and flow Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/science-of-flow/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Steven Kotler: Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. He is the author of ten bestsellers (out of thirteen books total), including The Art of Impossible, The Future Is Faster Than You Think, Stealing Fire, The Rise of Superman, Bold and Abundance. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 40 languages, and appeared in over 100 publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, TIME and the Harvard Business Review. Steven is also the cohost of Flow Research Collective Radio, a top ten iTunes science podcast. Along with his wife, author Joy Nicholson, he is the cofounder of the Rancho de Chihuahua, a hospice and special needs dog sanctuary.

Experts from 4 different fields define consciousness

24 sep 2025

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=yt_desc We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators. How does self-awareness connect us to others, society, and the universe? 4 experts explain. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Christof Koch, PhD, Daniel Dennett, PhD, Sam Harris, PhD, and Deepak Chopra, MD—four thinkers from neuroscience, philosophy, biology, and medicine—each share their own interpretation of consciousness, combining their ideas to paint one massive, mysterious picture of what it means to be an awakened being. Read more from this interview ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/brain-briefs-experts-define-consciousness?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description Explore the Perception Box series hub ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more. https://members.bigthink.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business. https://bigthink.com/plus/great-leaders-think-big/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Christof Koch, PhD: Christof Koch is a Meritorious Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science and Chief Scientist at the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation. He is a pioneering neuroscientist celebrated for his influential work on the neuronal basis of consciousness, including jointly developing Integrated Information Theory and exploring the neural correlates of conscious experience. About Daniel Dennett, PhD: Daniel C. Dennett was the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. About Sam Harris, PhD: Mr. Harris is a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University and holds a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA, where he studied the neural basis of belief with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). He is also a Co-Founder and CEO of Project Reason. About Deepak Chopra, MD: Deepak Chopra MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing, is a medical doctor, public speaker, and author of 90 books, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. He is regarded as a major advocate for the use of alternative medicine.

Not all effort leads to character. Here’s why.

23 sep 2025

This interview is an episode from ‪@The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the ‪@TempletonFoundation. Subscribe to The Well on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/thewell-youtube Watch Schnitker’s next interview ► Is virtue worth pursuing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIUnvXZHkkg Does self-discipline always build character? Not necessarily. Psychologist Sarah Schnitker explains why virtue grows best when rooted in purpose beyond the self. Through studies of marathon runners fundraising for clean water, she shows how pro-social and spiritual motivations—not just personal fitness goals—led to deeper growth in generosity, patience, and self-control. This research challenges the idea that self-improvement alone leads to virtue. When moral purpose and shared meaning enter the picture, transformation becomes more than personal: it becomes relational and lasting. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/the-well/what-makes-discipline-meaningful?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description_bigthink ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Sarah Schnitker: Dr. Sarah Schnitker, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University and Director of the BRIGHTS Center, researches virtue development in youth. Specializing in patience, self-control, and gratitude, she has 100+ publications, $10M in grants, editorial leadership, and mentors doctoral students in science and virtue. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About The Well Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds. Together, let's learn from them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Well on your favorite platforms: ► Facebook: https://bit.ly/thewellFB ► Instagram: https://bit.ly/thewellIG

A simple tool for better communication during toxic conflict | Amanda Ripley

19 sep 2025

“We can have that fight for a 1,000 years, but we could have a shot at figuring out what we both need and noticing when there's opportunities to make that happen.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, Conflict, crisis, consumption: What’s eating our nation? Amanda Ripley: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE_MEu7xn8Y Conflict can be constructive, inspiring learning, growth, and vulnerability when well-managed. But when it spirals into what Amanda Ripley calls high conflict, it becomes corrosive. Instead of solving problems, high conflict traps us in a cycle where arguments feed on themselves, eroding trust and entire relationships. So, why are we so susceptible to it? Ripley explains, sharing our psychological tripwires and how to avoid them. 0:00 The paradox of high conflict 0:30 Breaking the cycle 2:50 How to get to the understory 5:00 High conflict is a tar pit 6:30 The idiot driver reflex (why we don’t give people benefit of the doubt) 7:50 Fear leads to a desire for simplicity 8:20 The saturation point 10:50 Good, healthy conflict 11:15 Looping (how to prove you are listening) 14:00 The most common understories 17:30 Practice under stress 20:00 How to keep conflict healthy 21:00 The magic ratio of positive interactions to conflict 21:55 Who high conflict benefits 22:55 There’s no winning a marriage Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/high-conflict-ripley/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Amanda Ripley: Amanda Ripley is a New York Times bestselling author, Washington Post contributor, and co-founder of consultancy firm, Good Conflict. Her books include The Smartest Kids in the World, High Conflict, and The Unthinkable.

Your brain: the most important sex organ in the body | Emily Nagoski

18 sep 2025

“The sexual excitation system is the accelerator or the gas pedal, and it notices all the sex-related information in the environment.” Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, You were lied to about sex. Here’s the truth | Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3mDt4oV88o Past decades of sex research have focused mainly on mechanics, overlooking the concept of desire. Now, we’re understanding how vital environment, emotion, and perception are in the science of sex. Sex educator Emily Nagoski emphasizes how critical context can be in amplifying or killing sexual desire. 0:38 The role of desire in orgasm 2:15 The gas pedal vs. the brakes 4:15 Why people struggle with sex 5:15 How to apply neuroscience in the bedroom 7:02 The power of context Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/your-brain-on-sex/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive content, early, ad-free access to new releases, and more. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Get Big Think+ for Business Engage learners like never before with high-impact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world. https://bigthink.com/plus/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Emily Nagoski: Emily Nagoski is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling Come As You Are and The Come As You Are Workbook, and coauthor, with her sister, Amelia, of New York Times bestseller Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. She earned an M.S. in counseling and a Ph.D. in health behavior, both from Indiana University, with clinical and research training at the Kinsey Institute. Now she combines sex education and stress education to teach women to live with confidence and joy inside their bodies. She lives in Massachusetts with two dogs, a cat, and a cartoonist.

The case for free speech (even when it’s harmful)

16 sep 2025

This interview is an episode from ‪@The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the @TempletonFoundation. Subscribe to The Well on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/thewell-youtube “Defending free speech, even for your enemies, is essential for minorities, and for freedom and equality to thrive.” Jacob Mchangama, founder of The Future of Free Speech, explains how free speech has shaped America, from Frederick Douglass fighting slavery to Supreme Court cases protecting voices that promote hate. He argues that today, tech platforms twist our view by promoting extremists for clicks, making it feel like free speech is the problem. But free speech only works if all voices are allowed. According to Mchangama, it is silence that truly damages equality and democracy. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/the-well/true-free-speech?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description_bigthink ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Jacob Mchangama: Jacob Mchangama founded and leads The Future of Free Speech, is a research professor at Vanderbilt, and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). A prolific commentator and author on free speech and human rights, he created the podcast “Clear and Present Danger” and wrote the 2022 book “Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About The Well Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds. Together, let's learn from them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Well on your favorite platforms: ► Facebook: https://bit.ly/thewellFB ► Instagram: https://bit.ly/thewellIG