Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Big Think
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Big Think
By bigthinkEducation
Big Think episodes
- How COVID-era monetary policy changed everything | Joseph Politano
"Understanding more about monetary policy and the economic regime that you're living under can help ease some of the fundamental uncertainties [that have been] prevalent since COVID, and help you make better decisions in your day-to-day life."
In the wake of the pandemic, our economy entered into a new era marked by supply chain shortages, rapidly rising inflation, and a sharp increase in interest rates. And consumers, businesses, and governments are more uncertain than they've ever been. It's impossible to understand the changes that we've gone through over the last four years and, in a broader sense, over the last two decades without understanding the shifts in monetary policy over that time period, says Joseph Politano, an economic analyst, a data journalist, and the writer behind Apricitas Economics. We interviewed Politano on April 30th, 2024 and he explained this global economic shift.
About Joseph Politano:Joseph Politano is a Financial Management Analyst at the Bureau of Labor Statistics working to support the Labor Market Information and Occupational Health and Safety surveys that BLS conducts. He writes independently about economics, business, and public policy for a better world at apricitas.substack.com.
Folllow this Podcast for daily Episodes-------------------------------------------------06:30-17
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
17 min - Michio Kaku: Why we don’t even rank on the Kardashev scale
"We're stuck at type zero. But what would it take to move between universes? What would it take to enter a black hole? What would it take to break the light barrier?"
If alien life exists, how would we even recognize it? Physicist Michio Kaku argues that our search for intelligence beyond Earth forces us to question the assumptions behind our own definition of “intelligent.”Our current criteria for intelligence might be too narrow. Here’s what that means for the search for extraterrestrial life.00:00 How can we recognize alien intelligence01:53 Decoding animal intelligence03:00 The Kardashev scale03:55 What type civilization are we?05:15 How would we recognize a type 2 or 3?06:16 Flying saucers and UAPs07:53 Optical illusion or extraterrestrial?10:38 A 'gold mine' of UFO data--------------------------------------------06:30-17
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
17 min - Do humans have souls? | Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder
Do humans have souls, or are we just particles? Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder explains.
Have you ever considered the possibility of transferring your consciousness into a computer? Sabine Hossenfelder, a German theoretical physicist, believes that this may one day be possible.According to Hossenfelder, the fundamental laws of physics as described in the standard model of particle physics can explain everything in the universe, including human consciousness. She suggests that we are simply a collection of elementary particles, but it is the arrangement of these particles that gives us our unique qualities and abilities.As such, it may be possible to capture and transfer all the information about the arrangement of particles in the body in order to transfer a person's consciousness into a computer. So, could we one day upload our consciousness and exist within a machine? It's an intriguing possibility.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------About Sabine Hossenfelder:Sabine Hossenfelder is a physicist, author, and creator of "Science Without the Gobbledygook". She currently works at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy in Germany.---------------------------------------------------06:30-17----------------------------
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
9 min - Free speech, explained by Greg Lukianoff
🎙️ Greg Lukianoff on Free Speech & Campus Culture
Greg Lukianoff, head of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), discusses the importance of protecting free speech on campuses and in society. He co-wrote "The Canceling of the American Mind" with Rikki Schlott.
🔓 What is FIRE?
Founded in 1999 to fight campus speech codes, FIRE now works off-campus too. Lukianoff highlights that while laws matter, what really sustains free speech is culture — shared values like “everyone’s entitled to their opinion” 💬.
📜 First Amendment 101
Free speech is broadly protected under U.S. Law, even if it offends. Exceptions include:
🚫 True threats
🔥 Incitement to violence
🧾 Defamation
⚖️ Discriminatory harassment (severe, targeted speech)
📉 Shift in Campus Culture
In the 2000s, most students supported open expression, while college administrators often pushed censorship. But by 2013–2014, student activism shifted toward demanding censorship too — trigger warnings, speaker bans, and safe spaces. For the first time, both students and administrators aligned against free expression 😬.
🧠 The Bigger Picture
Lukianoff says:
✅ Laws protect our rights
✅ Culture protects our minds
Without a culture that encourages listening, disagreement, and tolerance, even the best laws can’t save free speech. To stay truly free, we must defend both the right to speak and the willingness to hear others out 🤝.
Folllow this Podcast for daily Episodes--------------------------------------------------------06:30-17
----------------------------
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
40 min - Which “money personality” are you? | Your Brain on Money
To be good with money, you have to know yourself.
Financial advice needs to be personalized. There is no "one size fits all" approach to financial management.In fact, just as we all have different personalities, we also have unique "money personalities."There are four different money personalities: avoidance, worship, status, and vigilance. There are elements of truth and dysfunction in each.0:00 Money psychology0:57 The neuroscience of personality2:07 4 money personalities4:22 Personal(ity) finance----------------------------------------------------06:30-17
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
10 min - Why 2025 is the single most pivotal year in our lifetime | Peter Leyden
"We're living in an extraordinary moment in history. We are at a moment here in 2025 where we have world historic game-changing technologies now starting to scale."
We are living through the collapse of the old world, and the quiet construction of a new one. From artificial intelligence and clean energy to bioengineering and digital governance, the core systems that defined the last century are rapidly being dismantled and replaced. But this isn’t just about technology.According to futurist Peter Leyden, we’re at a historic turning point: One of the rare moments in American and global history when everything gets reimagined at once.0:00 An extraordinary moment in history1:05 Wired magazine2:09 Technology adoption curve2:53 80 year cycles3:26 Post-war era5:08 Gilded age6:59 Founding era8:24 The arrival of AI9:42 The rise of clean energy10:52 The rise of bioengineering13:45 The beginning of a shiftReferences:Article: Ziegler, M. S.; Trancik, J. E. Re-Examining Rates of Lithium-Ion Battery Technology Improvement and Cost Decline. Energy Environ. Sci. 2021, 14, 1635–1651.DOI: 10.1039/D0EE02681FURL: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/artic...Dataset: Ziegler, M. S.; Trancik, J. E., 2021, "Data series for lithium-ion battery technologies", https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/9FEJ7C, Trancik Lab Dataverse, V1, UNF:6:sVTvBwWolbQL4BxsTSDUg== [fileUNF]---------------------------------------------------------06:30-17
----------------------------
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
22 min - Unmask the comedian. Meet the real Kel Mitchell.
### 🎭 **Kel Mitchell: From Pain to Purpose**
**Who is Kel Mitchell?**
Actor, comedian, author, pastor — and a deeply reflective human being.
### 🌟 Key Life Lessons from Kel’s Story:
#### 🧠 1. **Childhood Trauma Sticks Around**
- A moment of childhood hate left a lasting imprint.
- Unresolved pain can resurface in adulthood and distort how we see others.
#### 🤝 2. **The Power of Honest Conversations**
- Kel used to bottle up emotions and avoid conflict.
- Growth began when he started **sharing his truth** and **understanding others deeply**.
#### 💔 3. **Divorce and Losing Access to His Children**
- A painful court battle left him alienated from his kids.
- Sharing his story on YouTube brought **connection and healing**—for him and others.
#### 😔 4. **His Darkest Moment: Suicidal Thoughts**
- At a low point, he stood on a balcony ready to give up.
- A voice (which he believes was God) told him to **step away** and find healing.
### 🙌 The Comeback: Faith, Family & Self-Love
- Rebuilt his life by reconnecting with God and loving himself.
- Now a proud father of four and married to a loving partner.
- Learned to embrace mistakes as lessons, not regrets.
### 🎮 Kel’s Wisdom, Nintendo-Style:
> "The designer made cheat codes to skip levels.
Now I know the Designer of me.
So I can jump levels in life—because I’ve learned from the pain."
### 💬 Final Message:
There’s no going back. But there’s **so much forward** when you let go, learn, and love yourself through the process.
Folllow this Podcast for daily Episodes---------------------------------------------06:30-17
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
12 min - 97% of mammals don’t partner up. Why do humans? | Helen Fisher
“No matter what their gods were, what they did for a living, what they wore, the songs they sang, everything varies except love, and everybody loves.”
From the beginning of humanity, cultures and societies vary in tradition, religion, art, philosophy, and customs. One constant that remains unchanging? The essential need for love and partnership.Dr. Helen Fisher explains the drive for love from an anthropological perspective, exploring the science of attraction, heartbreak, rejection, and how our dopamine factories send us on lifelong quests to find “the one.”0:00 The origins of romantic love and attachment02:53 Love across cultures and time04:39 The evolutionary roots of love07:45 Discovering the brain in love10:00 What the brain reveals about love12:05 Love and addiction----------------------------------------------------------------------------------About Helen Fisher:Helen E. Fisher, Ph.D. Biological anthropologist, was a Senior Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, and a Member of the Center For Human Evolutionary Studies in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University. She wrote six books on the evolution, biology, and psychology of human sexuality, monogamy, adultery and divorce, gender differences in the brain, the neural chemistry of romantic love and attachment, human biologically-based personality styles, why we fall in love with one person rather than another, hooking up, friends with benefits, living together and other current trends, and the future of relationships — what she called: slow love.-----------------------------------------------06:30-17
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
24 min - The backwards logic of censorship
Historian and free speech advocate Jacob Mchangama explains how suppressing voices often has the opposite effect. From the crucifixion of Jesus fueling Christianity to Barbra Streisand accidentally amplifying photos of her Malibu mansion, attempts at censorship often strengthen what they aim to silence. Mchangama argues that while free speech can be messy and ugly, it remains essential to preserve its many benefits.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------About Jacob Mchangama:Jacob Mchangama founded and leads The Future of Free Speech, is a research professor at Vanderbilt, and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). A prolific commentator and author on free speech and human rights, he created the podcast “Clear and Present Danger” and wrote the 2022 book “Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media.”----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------06:30-17
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
5 min - Einstein's equations and the enigma of wormholes | Janna Levin
Quantum wormholes are mathematically possible — but might also be physically impossible. Physicist Janna Levin explains the wormhole paradox.
Theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin challenges long-held assumptions about the behavior of black holes, information conservation, and the fundamental nature of space, time, and gravity. She uses black holes to explore the physical feasibility of wormholes: theoretical passages or tunnel-like structures that connect separate points in spacetime.
Stephen Hawking proposed that black holes emit energy via quantum particles, causing them to eventually evaporate and challenge the conservation of information. The holographic principle suggests that information is encoded on a black hole's surface, addressing the information paradox.Levin metaphorically likens black holes to embroidery, woven from quantum threads. Her quantum perspective has profound implications, potentially altering our understanding of gravity and spacetime's fundamental nature — even questioning our pursuit of a theory of everything.-------------------
--------------------------------------------------------06:30-19---------------------
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
18 min
About Big Think
From the publisher's feed
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.
Best of Big Think
Ranked by our users in the last 21 days
More shows like Big Think
The Atlantic Interview
15 Listeners