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. Welcome to The Well, a publication by the John Templeton Foundation and Big Think.
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Featured Interviews
“Throughout time, we earthlings have all sort of come to the same points in the year, and the same points in life to mark…
Disparate cultures, who had no way of communicating, found the same moments to create ceremonies and traditions around. Birth, coming of age, death- and also the solstices and equinoxes. So many of our rituals and traditions are about processing change and coming to terms with who we are on this little, particular planet.”
Author
Bessel van der Kolk is a psychiatrist noted for his research in the area of post-traumatic stress since the 1970s. His work focuses on the interaction of attachment, neurobiology, and[…]
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Julia Galef is a New York-based writer and public speaker specializing in science, rationality, and design. She serves on the board of directors of the New York City Skeptics, co-hosts[…]
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Ari Wallach is an applied futurist and Executive Director of Longpath Labs. He is the author of Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs by HarperCollins and the creator[…]
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Featured Article
From politics to culture, we blame “tribalism” for humanity’s problems. This explanation is entirely wrong.
“How we talk about society’s problems matters.
Invoking the notion of ‘tribalism’ for the world’s current problems is misleading at best and insulting at worst.”
Anthropologist
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All Stories
If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.
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Unlock the paradoxes of life through poetic realism.
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Plato and Carl Sagan were wrong about the human brain, says a top neuroscientist.
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“Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself — and there isn’t one.”
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Your brain isn’t wired for happiness — but you can change that, explains Yale scientist Laurie Santos.
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Spiritual experiences can be explained in terms of a highly evolved brain. But they also can be extremely meaningful.
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You’ve heard about your “lizard brain.” But what about the other two?
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No, emotions don’t happen TO you. Here’s what happens instead.
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“Groupthink” gets a bad rap. In reality, we need groups to focus our thinking and to build on the ideas of others.
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Ancient societies revered dreams. Modern science tells us why.
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Geniuses and prodigies are captivating. But generalists rule the world.
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Neuroscience is beginning to provide clues about the emergence of human consciousness.
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This network physicist is mapping the world’s most significant data to create the most beautiful visualizations of information we have ever seen.
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Aimless wandering is essential for understanding yourself. Here’s why.
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Man does not live by measurement alone.
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Science has opened so many doors to humanity’s understanding of the world. Scientism shuts them. Here’s how to tell the difference.
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Forget AI. Gene editing is still our most powerful — and dangerous — technology.
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Thinking about the problem of meaning is unsettling because it introduces us to a list of solutions that all feel a bit insane.
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From DMT elves, to God, to the figures in our dreams — why are humans so obsessed with the supernatural?
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Humans, like animals, are driven by instincts. But we also have wants. Here’s what that means for our lives.
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How humans came to feel comfortable among strangers, like those in a café, is an under-explored mystery.
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This scientist made an algorithm to predict which artists succeed — all without even looking at their art.
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How World War II codebreaker Alan Turing invented modern AI.
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The acceptance of our cosmic loneliness and the rarity of our planet is a wakeup call.
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People say we are better off than ever. Are they right?
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How America became a fragile nation — and how it can get its resilience back.
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Adolescents actively shape the transformation of religion and become the bearers of new religious patterns, worldviews, and values.
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This is not your average dream interpreter. Nightmares, as explained by a neuroscientist.
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“If intelligence is the ability to respond to any argument, wisdom lies in knowing which parts of an argument to respond to.” Harvard debate coach Bo Seo explains how to argue better.
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In the beginning, genes weren’t needed.
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