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Big Think
By bigthinkEducation
Big Think episodes
- How emotions work | Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett
In today’s world, people are more open than ever to discuss their emotions, largely due to the growth in self-help literature and efforts to destigmatize therapy. However, this openness has also resulted in certain misconceptions about emotions, which neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett aims to clarify.
Contrary to the notion that emotions are inherently fixed in our brains from birth, Barrett contends that they are primarily based on past experiences and the brain’s predictions of future events. This means that emotions aren’t merely reactions thrust upon us, but something we actively participate in creating.Barrett further posits that we can alter our brain’s predictive patterns by diversifying our experiences such as learning new things, watching films, or engaging in activities like acting that deviate from our routine. By doing this, we can shape the architecture of our future selves.0:00 Two myths about emotion1:24 How your brain creates emotion / How emotions are made4:36 Depression: A metabolic illness?5:52 Changing your brain’s predictions7:45 You have more control than you think----------------------------------------------------------------------------------About Lisa Feldman Barrett:Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett is among the top 1% most-cited scientists in the world, having published over 250 peer-reviewed scientific papers. Dr. Barrett is a University Distinguished Professor of psychology at Northeastern University with appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is Chief Science Officer for the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior. She is the recipient of a NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for transformative research, a Guggenheim Fellowship in neuroscience, the Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and from the Society for Affect Science (SAS), and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association (APA). She is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada, and a number of other honorific societies. She is the author of How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, and more recently, Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain.------------------------------------------06:30-17Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
14 min - Influencer Carrie Berk on self-perception, anxiety, and loss
Carrie Berk reveals how she transformed her struggle with anxiety and internet fame by changing her perception and finding her true voice as a writer.
Carrie Berk, author, journalist, and social media influencer with nearly 4 million TikTok followers, shares her journey through anxiety, internet fame, and personal growth.
Amid the pandemic and sudden online fame, Carrie faced intense anxiety, receiving harmful threats from strangers and grappling with the pressures of social media. Sharing her most vulnerable moments, including her first heartbreak at sixteen, Carrie emphasizes the importance of authenticity. Through therapy and self-discovery, she learned that while she couldn’t switch off her anxiety, she could change her response to it.Carrie’s story is a perfect example of the resilience it takes to be a young person in today’s social climate, and proves how powerful self-confidence and inner strength can be.--------------------About Carrie Berk:Twenty-one-year-old Carrie Berk already has a life’s worth of accomplishments under her belt. It’s no wonder Bella Magazine declared her “an ambitious and dedicated boss babe,” and The Wall Street Journal dubbed her “a community-minded young creator.”She is a verified content creator across several social media channels including TikTok (3.9M followers; 119M likes), Instagram (950K followers), Snapchat (133K followers), YouTube (101K followers) and Pinterest (227K followers; 10M monthly views), with a combined monthly engagement of more than 100M. Carrie has collaborated with top fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands including Netflix, HBO Max, Walt Disney World, Pixar, Instagram, Revolve, Wet n Wild, MAC Cosmetics, Roller Rabbit, VS PINK, Alice + Olivia, Chips Ahoy!, Dunkin’ and more. She has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, New York Daily News and othersFolllow this Podcast for daily Episodes---------------------------------------------06:30-17
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7 min - The “afterlife” according to Einstein’s special relativity | Sabine Hossenfelder
Sabine Hossenfelder investigates life's big questions through the lens of physics, particularly Einstein's theory of special relativity. She highlights the relativity of simultaneity, which states that the notion of "now" is subjective and dependent on the observer. This leads to the block universe concept, where past, present, and future all exist simultaneously, making the past just as real as the present.
Hossenfelder also emphasizes that the fundamental laws of nature preserve information rather than destroy it. Although information about a deceased person disperses, it remains an integral part of the universe. This idea of timeless existence, derived from the study of fundamental physics, offers profound spiritual insights that can be difficult to internalize in our everyday lives. As a result, Hossenfelder encourages people to trust the scientific method and accept the profound implications of these discoveries, which may reshape our understanding of life and existence.As a physicist, Hossenfelder trusts the knowledge gained through the scientific method and acknowledges the challenge of integrating these deep insights into our daily experiences. By contemplating these profound concepts, we can potentially expand our understanding of reality and our place within it.0:00 Is your dead grandma still alive?1:25 Before Einstein… and after2:53 Relativity of simultaneity, explained5:14 Spacetime and the ‘block universe’6:10 Eternal existence: The conservation of quantum information8:22 “I know it sounds crazy, but…”-------------------------------------------------06:30-19
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14 min - The science behind clean hydrocarbons | The Freethink Interview
Could solar energy be the key to unlocking a future free from fossil fuels and extreme poverty? Casey Handmer, founder and CEO of Terraform Industries, believes so. His company is pioneering technology that could revolutionize how we produce and consume energy, potentially solving climate change and global energy inequality in one fell swoop.Terraform Industries is developing machines that create synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air. It sounds like science fiction, but the technology is rooted in simple chemistry and powered by the rapidly advancing field of solar energy.But Handmer's vision extends beyond just replacing fossil fuels. He sees solar energy as the catalyst for a new era of human progress. By providing cheap, abundant energy to every corner of the globe, we could potentially eliminate extreme poverty within our lifetimes. It's an ambitious goal, but one that Handmer believes we have a responsibility to pursue.
Chapters For Easier Understanding:0:00: Introduction1:20: The future of energy1:50: Solar vs. Nuclear2:45: Solar deployment3:23: Solar vs. Fossil fuels4:50: What is a fuel?6:52: The terraformer 7:49: Industrial Revolution
In this episode, Casey Handmer, CEO of Terraform Industries, discusses how solar energy has become drastically cheaper and predicts it will power 95% of humanity by 2042. He explains how his company is developing technology to create synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air, potentially replacing fossil fuels. Handmer emphasizes the rapid growth of solar, its economic advantages over nuclear, and the urgency of using this technology to combat climate change.
Folllow this Podcast for daily Episodes--------------------
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16 min - Why your Epicurean approach will never make you truly happy | Arthur Brooks
🌍 **Mother Nature doesn’t care if we’re happy.**
Her only goal? Survival. She wired us to seek food, safety, and reproduction — not happiness.
In fact, 😟 **negative emotions serve a purpose**. Fear, anger, and sadness are evolutionary tools to keep us alert and responsive to threats. Mother Nature *needs* us to be uncomfortable sometimes.
But here's the twist: **Happiness is our responsibility.**
It's a human — maybe even divine — pursuit.
🧘♂️ Enter Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher. Contrary to the common image of indulgence, his idea of happiness was simple:
👉 **Eliminate suffering**.
By reducing sources of pain — toxic relationships, stressful habits, unnecessary friction — we can create space for peace. It's not about chasing pleasure, but avoiding harm. And that idea has echoed through history.
Today, we’re living in what some call an **“epicurean age.”**
We overprotect kids from pain, shield students from uncomfortable ideas, and try to bubble-wrap life. But here's the problem...
⚠️ **Avoiding suffering doesn’t eliminate unhappiness.**
It just weakens us. We still experience negative emotions — without the growth that comes from hardship.
🌓 As Carl Jung put it:
> “We only know what good is because we’ve seen bad.”
By avoiding discomfort, we also rob ourselves of contrast — the very thing that gives joy its meaning.
So ironically, in shielding ourselves from pain,
we may be shutting the door on bliss.
Folllow this Podcast for daily Episodes-------------------------------------------------06:30-17----------------------------
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6 min - How ancient philosophers would shape AI | Brendan McCord
**🌍 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.
Now, in the **age of Turing**, it’s AI’s turn to push us toward philosophy again.
### 🤖 From Tool… to Architect?
For centuries, technology served *us*. It helped us *do* things — but it never told us *what to do*.
That’s changed.
Today, algorithms decide what you read, what you watch, and even how you think about right and wrong.
Tomorrow, **AI might diagnose disease, invent cures, and guide global decisions**.
But what if it doesn’t just assist us — what if it begins to **shape our very goals**?
### ⚖️ The Big Risks
1. **Convenience becomes dependency** — we outsource thinking, creativity, even values.
2. **Governance structures built to protect us** become the very systems that **control us**.
3. **Human freedom — our core superpower — slowly erodes**.
### 🧭 Three Steps Toward a Human-Centered Future
#### **Step 1: The North Star – Human Flourishing**
We must re-orient AI not around power or profit, but around helping each person **realize their potential**.
> Not to build gods. Not to build replacements.
> But to build *tools* for better lives.
#### **Step 2: The Compass – Principles for Progress**
A new AI philosophy must be built on three pillars:
- **Autonomy**: The freedom to think and act without manipulation.
- **Reason**: The ability to weigh ideas, debate, and discover truth.
- **Decentralization**: Power spread across many, not hoarded by a few.
These are the values that **preserve our humanity** in a world shaped by machines.
#### **Step 3: Navigate the New World – From Philosophy to Code**
Just like America’s founders built a **philosophy-to-law pipeline**, we need a **philosophy-to-code pipeline**.
Enter:
🧪 **The Human-Centered AI Lab at Oxford**
— the first lab dedicated to building open-source AI aligned with human flourishing.
### 🧠 The Future Needs a New Kind of Technologist
One who combines:
- **World-class AI skills**
- **And deep philosophical grounding**
These pioneers will prototype systems where **tech empowers humanity**, not erases it.
### 🚀 Final Thought
We are at a pivotal moment.
A once-in-a-civilization inflection point.
Like setting foot on a new world — with no map.
But with a **North Star to guide us**,
and a **Compass to keep us grounded**,
we can build a future where technology serves humanity — not the other way around.
> From Copernicus to Turing, it’s time to once again **find our place in the cosmos** —
> **not as obsolete beings**,
> but as stewards of the future.
Folllow this Podcast for daily Episodes------------------------------------------------------06:30-17
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13 min - 3 experts debunk common myths about work | James Suzman, Tyler Cowen, and Cal Newport
A lot of modern work exists mainly because we've structured society around the belief that humans *must* work. But this has led to inequality, wasted talent, and systems that no longer serve us. 🏙️
Today, productivity is tracked through pings, emails, and meetings—not real impact. We’re surrounded by abundance, yet opportunity remains unevenly spread. The problem? We measure busyness, not *outcomes*. 📊
Throughout history, work has evolved through three major revolutions:
1. 🔥 **Mastery of fire** — Early humans began outsourcing energy. Cooking made food more digestible and freed up time. This shift opened the door to leisure and innovation.
2. 🌾 **Agriculture** — Farming demanded planning and ownership. Concepts like land, debt, and productivity emerged. Cattle became early symbols of capital.
3. 🏛️ **Cities** — Agriculture supported population growth. Urban centers became creative hubs where people specialized, exchanged ideas, and formed work-based communities.
Fast forward to today: machines and fossil fuels do most of the heavy lifting. 🛠️ But while technology generates abundance, wealth is concentrated. Most people can no longer convert effort directly into prosperity. Social mobility is shrinking. 📉
Our economic systems still reward inherited capital more than hard work. And when it comes to hiring, we’re looking in the wrong places. Instead of narrowly measuring intelligence, we should value energy, drive, creativity, and collaboration. 💡
Bias often filters out brilliant people—those who don’t “look” the part. Some traits seen as liabilities (like ADHD or anxiety) can actually fuel innovation in the right roles. 🧠✨
To unlock potential and solve big problems, we need to rethink everything. Not with tweaks—but through bold experimentation. 🚀
Our current systems were designed for a world that no longer exists. We now have automation, digital tools, and near-limitless energy at our fingertips. The question is: will we redesign the future of work to match the world we *actually* live in?
“It’s remarkable how weak the correlation between success and intelligence is.” Here’s what skills do matter, from 3 business experts.
Timestamps:
0:00 - The history of work
2:30 - How work shaped society
3:55 - The invention of fire
5:16 - Transition to farming
6:51 - Effort and reward
11:40 - Why talent matters
18:26 - Accomplishment without burnout
About Cal Newport:
Cal Newport is an MIT-trained computer science professor at Georgetown University who also writes about the intersections of technology, work, and the quest to find depth in an increasingly distracted world.
About James Suzman:
Dr. James Suzman a PhD an anthropologist specializing in the Khoisan peoples of southern Africa. A former Smuts Fellow in African Studies at the University of Cambridge, he is now the director of Anthropos Ltd., a think-tank that applies anthropological methods to solving contemporary social and economic problems. Dr. Suzman's latest book is Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots.
About Tyler Cowen:
Tyler is the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is co-author of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution and co-founder of the online educational platform Marginal Revolution University.
Folllow this Podcast for daily Episodes------------------------------------------------06:30-19
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32 min - The Fermi Paradox has a potentially terrifying answer: The Dark Forest | David KippingFolllow this Podcast for daily Episodes
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20 min - Antifragility: How to use suffering to get stronger | Jonathan Haidt & more
Happiness is temporary, antifragility lasts forever, explains Jonathan Haidt and 5 other experts.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. That old adage roughly sums up the idea of antifragility, a term coined by the statistician and writer Nassim Taleb. The term refers to how systems tend to become stronger after being exposed to stressors, shocks, and mistakes.The same applies to humans. Although suffering for its own sake isn’t necessarily good, experiencing — and overcoming — stress and difficulty tends to make us stronger people in the long run. We shouldn’t always shy away from that which makes us uncomfortable.0:00 Introduction0:38 Jonathan Haidt defines antifragility1:35 Susan David on life's fragility2:12 Derren Brown on acceptance over positive thinking3:02 Susan David on the risk of overvaluing happiness4:39 Pete Holmes says "resist nothing"6:42 Shaka Senghor on the ingredients for resiliency9:45 Nancy Koehn on taking the first step----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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17 min - I went to space and discovered an enormous lie | Ron Garan
What astronaut Ron Garan saw in space changed his life forever – here’s what it taught him.
A curious phenomenon often occurs when astronauts travel to space and look out on our planet for the first time: They see how interconnected and fragile life on Earth is, and they feel a sudden responsibility to protect it.Astronaut @RonGaran experienced this so-called “overview effect” when he first saw Earth from space. When he looked out on the planet, he saw an iridescent biosphere teeming with life, all protected by a remarkably thin atmosphere.What he did not see was the thing that society often gives top priority: the economy. For Garan, seeing Earth from space revealed problems like global warming, deforestation, and biodiversity loss are not disconnected. They are the symptoms of an underlying flaw in how we perceive ourselves as humans: We fail to realize that we are a planetary species.Chapters for easier navigation:
0:00 The lie humanity is living
1:28 Escaping Plato’s cave2:15 What astronaut’s see in space4:07 The orbital perspective4:50 The ‘dolly zoom’: gain mental altitude----------------------------------------------------------------------------------About Ron Garan:Former NASA astronaut, serial entrepreneur, humanitarian, and highly decorated combat fighter Ron Garan racked up 178 days in space and more than 71 million miles in 2,842 orbits between tours on the US Space Shuttle, Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and the International Space Station. During his time in space, Garan conducted four spacewalks in support of ISS construction and maintenance. Prior to those space journeys, he lived and conducted research on the bottom of the ocean in the world’s only undersea research lab, Aquarius.Before reaching the summit of his career, Garan, a former test pilot and graduate of the US Naval Test Pilot School, taught hundreds of elite fighter pilots how to "up their game" as a flight instructor at the prestigious USAF Fighter Weapons School, the Air Force version of TOP GUN. He is the author of the critically acclaimed books: The Orbital Perspective, Floating in Darkness: A Journey of Evolution, and the children’s book, Railroad to the Moon. Garan is celebrated not just for his research in space but also for his humanitarian contribution to life on Earth.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------06:30-17
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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.
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