Guest Thinkers — September 23, 2011

Big Think’s Sexy New Look

As you have probably noticed, BigThink.com has undergone several cosmetic changes today, all intended to enhance your reading and viewing experience. We hope you like it, but we’re not done yet. This visual refresh is the first step in a process that will unfold in the coming days, weeks and months.

Some things you will notice over time is BigThink.com will become more mobile-friendly, and you’ll also find greater clarity about what this site is all about: a forum where top experts explore the big ideas and core skills defining the 21st century.

Stay tuned. In the meantime, we’ll leave you with the musings of one of our favorite Big Thinkers—the artist Julian Schnabel—who reflects on the usefulness and limitations of the Internet, revealing, in the process, his philosophy about art and the role of the artist in our digital age.

Watch here:

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.

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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.

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