Big Think

Big Think

Big Think is the leading source of expert-driven, actionable, educational content -- with thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, we help you get smarter, faster. Get actionable lessons from the world’s greatest thinkers & doers. Our experts are either disrupting or leading their respective fields. We aim to help you explore the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century, so you can apply them to the questions and challenges in your own life.

Episodes

Do we actually live in a multiverse? | Dr. Ethan Siegel

June 23, 2025 • 43 mins
"Welcome to the multiverse. Or should I say our one universe within a multiverse of possibilities?" Do we have proof of a multiverse? Our idea of the multiverse stems from the notion of quantum mechanics: The idea that every time we enter a situation there are potentially infinite possibilities to arise as the outcome. But when we make a decision, we only get one of these outcomes. Science fiction as well as our media and film...
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How to see clearly through deceptive emotions | Kristen Lindquist

June 23, 2025 • 28 mins
**🌍 Emotions Are Not Universal — They’re Cultural Lenses Shaping Reality** We often think emotions are hardwired facts — but in truth, they’re deeply shaped by the culture we live in. Emotions *feel* like objective reality, but they’re more like tinted glasses that color our perception. 🧠 **Kristen Lindquist**, professor of psychology and neuroscience, explains how emotion is both *biological* and *cultural*. While our brains c...
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The science of effortlessness: How to activate flow | Steven Kotler: Full Interview

June 20, 2025 • 75 mins
“Flow states have triggers: these are preconditions that lead to more flow. 22 of them have been discovered.” What if peak performance wasn’t a mystery, but a state you could wire your brain to enter on-demand? This isn’t about "getting in the zone." It’s about specific brain circuits, chemicals, and triggers that anyone can learn to activate. Backed by science, stripped of fluff, Steven Kotler explains the science of flow, from t...
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Peter Singer: Are we prepared for AI to become conscious?

June 16, 2025 • 7 mins
"If we did create beings that were more like non-human animals, we ought to treat them much better than we now treat non-human animals." What happens when AI becomes conscious? Philosopher Peter Singer explores the ethical dilemma that could follow the creation of sentient machines. If AI can feel pain or experience pleasure, do we have a moral obligation to protect it? Singer argues that governments, scientists, and ethicists m...
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The cracks in my powerhouse life: Cult Peloton instructor Tunde Oyeneyin

June 15, 2025 • 12 mins
**How do you rise when life keeps burying you in grief?** Before her 30th birthday, Tunde Oyeneyin lost her brother, her father, and her mother—half her immediate family. She wasn’t just at rock bottom. She was *cemented* in it. But instead of staying buried, she rose. 🌅 Grief taught her that none of her emotions could bring her loved ones back—and in that painful truth, she found freedom. She discovered her purpose: *to lead*....
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A neuroscientist’s guide to reclaiming your brain | Nicole Vignola

June 15, 2025 • 10 mins
**Are you trapped in a narrative that isn’t really yours?** From childhood, we absorb beliefs about who we are—“the smart one,” “the creative one,” “the failure.” These labels, shaped by family and environment, become our **Perception Box**, limiting what we believe is possible. But neuroscience reveals that we can rewrite our stories. By recognizing negative thought patterns, questioning old identities, and celebrating small wins,...
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Give up on happiness. Go hard at wonder | Monica Parker for Big Think+

June 15, 2025 • 11 mins
**What if happiness isn’t the goal—but wonder is?** 🌌 In a world obsessed with positivity—where we chase happiness through job titles, self-help books, and even national constitutions—Monica Parker offers a radical shift: stop chasing happiness. Start seeking *wonder*. Happiness, she argues, is often elusive and shallow. Worse, our obsession with it can lead to **toxic positivity**, robbing us of emotional depth. But *wonder*?...
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Our universe keeps expanding. But why? | Lee Cronin

June 15, 2025 • 6 mins
**🌌 What If the Universe Expands Because of… Selection?** Sounds wild? It is. But maybe it’s not nonsense. Let’s dive into this provocative idea — that **life, selection, and novelty** might be *fueling* the Universe’s expansion. ### 🌀 The Setup: A Universe in Motion The Universe, as far as we can tell, has been **expanding** ever since the Big Bang. Not just drifting outward — **accelerating**. But **why** is it expand...
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The science of sex, love, and attachment | Dr. Helen Fisher: Full Interview

June 15, 2025 • 79 mins
“Nobody gets out of love alive. We all suffer. We all have disappointments. It’s such a powerful brain system.” Why do we fall in love with one person over another? The late biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher unpacks the evolutionary roots of romantic love, sex, and attachment. Using research derived from the ethnographies of hunter-gatherer societies and fMRI brain scans Fisher explains how love functions as a powerful ...
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Your brain’s survival algorithm is outdated. Here’s how to upgrade it | Amanda Ripley

June 4, 2025 • 31 mins
"The fear of panic has killed more people than most disasters themselves." What really happens to your mind in a crisis? We all think we know how we'd react in an emergency—but according to journalist and author Amanda Ripley, we're usually wrong. Drawing from interviews with real people in disasters—from plane crashes to terrorist attacks, research on human behavior under stress, and firsthand experience in disaster training, Rip...
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How ancient philosophers would shape AI | Brendan McCord

June 4, 2025 • 13 mins
**🌍 Humanity Stands at the Shore of a New Continent — AI. What Now?** For 200,000 years, humans were the smartest beings on the planet. But today, **AI is forcing us to question what it *really* means to live a human life**. From **Copernicus** to **Darwin** to **Einstein**, science has repeatedly humbled us — displacing us from the center of the universe, showing us we are animals, and revealing that our intuition is flawed....
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The memory-enhancing effects of movement, backed by science | Wendy Suzuki: Full Interview

June 4, 2025 • 89 mins
“We know that as little as 10 minutes of walking can improve your mood, getting that bubble bath with the dopamine, serotonin, endorphins going. Anybody can do that.” After years of studying the hippocampus, the brain's memory center, Wendy Suzuki made a surprising discovery: Regular physical movement dramatically improved her memory, focus, and overall cognitive performance. Even 10 minutes of walking can trigger a powerful "neur...
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Harvard psychiatrist on happiness: Positive vs. toxic relationships | Robert Waldinger

June 4, 2025 • 26 mins
**💡 The #1 Investment for a Happy Life Isn't What You Think** If you could make just one investment to stay happy and healthy for life, what would it be? Most people say money or success—but **the longest-running study on human development proves it's something else entirely**. According to Dr. Robert Waldinger, director of the **Harvard Study of Adult Development**, the secret to long-term well-being isn’t wealth or fame—**it’s...
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What if the truth offends? Publish it anyway | Peter Singer

June 4, 2025 • 34 mins
In an era of cancel culture, outrage cycles, and the censorship of dissent, philosopher and co-founder of The Journal of Controversial Ideas Peter Singer makes his case for freedom of thought and expression. Singer argues that silencing uncomfortable ideas doesn't make us safer — it makes us less able to grow, reason, and solve the pressing issues of our time. Chapters: 00:00 Freedom of thought and expression 00:44 Why is freed...
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Sam Harris: Breaking the spell of propaganda | Full Interview

June 4, 2025 • 114 mins
"We're awash in lies and misinformation to a degree that was not possible before we got the internet and in particular before we got social media." Our world seems more fragmented than ever. Author and podcaster Sam Harris thinks that an open conversation with 8 billion strangers could solve that. Here's his full Big Think interview, in its entirety. Sam argues that the real problem isn’t bad people but bad ideas. He believes th...
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The mind-bending probability of our existence | Sean B. Carroll: Full Interview

June 4, 2025 • 84 mins
“It's a remarkable series of events that were required for us to be here, and that so many things could have happened in a different way that we wouldn't be here at all, both individually, and as a species.” What if your existence hinged on a single cosmic accident that took place millions of years ago? Biologist Sean B. Carroll examines the chain of events that made humanity’s domination as a species possible. From the specific...
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How humans evolved music | Michael Spitzer

June 3, 2025 • 13 mins
**🎵 The Cosmic Joke of Human Music: Are We the Least Musical Animals?** Despite our rich symphonies and emotional ballads, humans may be *the least* naturally musical species. Unlike birds that *creatively learn new songs* and insects that *pulse in perfect rhythm*, our ape ancestors lacked musicality. So how did we end up here—singing, dancing, composing? 🎼 Music wasn’t inherited. It was reinvented. Humans, through evolut...
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Speed vs. process: Why America chose wrong | Derek Thompson

June 3, 2025 • 12 mins
"I'd prefer to think about a different axis, which is, should government be more or less effective? Should government work faster or slower?" Why can’t America build anymore? The US has become astonishingly slow (and increasingly expensive) when delivering basic infrastructure. Journalist and Abundance co-author Derek Thompson explores how a tangled web of bureaucracy, overregulation, and political dysfunction has paralyzed our abi...
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The disappearance of men | Christine Emba

June 3, 2025 • 18 mins
**“Men Are in Crisis—But No One’s Listening”** Today, masculinity is often discussed with a sneer. Phrases like “men are trash” and “toxic masculinity” dominate public discourse, leaving little room for empathy—or solutions. Yet, beneath the image of male power (presidents, CEOs, dominance), lies a quieter truth: **most men are struggling**. Christine Emba, author of *Rethinking Sex: A Provocation*, argues that men are indeed in ...
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Why Florida and Texas are booming (and NY and California are not) | Economist Joseph Politano

June 2, 2025 • 12 mins
The winners of the remote work boom? Utah, Arizona, and Maine. Here’s what the US’ post-pandemic migration looks like. In the wake of COVID, rising populations are shifting out of states like New York and California and moving to previously less-popular landscapes. The biggest beneficiaries of the post-pandemic economy have been states in the American South, including Texas and Florida, which has seen the fastest GDP growth of any...
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