Guest Thinkers — May 1, 2010

Profoundly Routine

Beyond novelty, which is extrinsically valuable, lasting love must find ways to enjoy routine activities, which are intrinsically valuable.

bigthinkeditor

Beyond novelty, which is extrinsically valuable, lasting love must find ways to enjoy routine activities, which are intrinsically valuable. “Although loving relationships often involve new experiences, most of the time lovers engage in routine activities. Long-term happiness and loving relationships depends on our ability to enjoy routine activities. How can we do this?”

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

▸

7 min

—

with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Culture & Religion

Know Thyself

The eternal quest for self knowledge has entered the realm of cold data collection: statistics to make our personal lives more calculable and efficient.