dash

Pressure bursts pipes. Keeping a secret can do the same to your mind, explains Michael Slepian.

Holding secrets can negatively impact your well-being. But how, exactly? For decades, psychological research suggested that people experience significant stress while hiding secrets from others during social interactions.

But this explanation often doesn’t feel right to people, notes Michael Slepian, an associate professor at Columbia Business School who has spent years studying the nature of secrets. Surveys suggest that it’s actually pretty rare for people to find themselves in social situations where they have to actively conceal a secret they’ve never told anyone about. So, how are secrets harming us?

In other words, the average experience of concealing a secret turns out to be an easy one.

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About Michael Slepian:

Michael Slepian is the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Associate Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School. He previously was a visiting scholar at Stanford University, and received his Ph.D. from Tufts University. He is an elected fellow of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, has received the Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science, and received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship...

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Roman Krznaric, philosopher and author of the book "The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long Term Thinking," says that there are two parts of the human brain that are driving our decisions and ultimately determining what kind of legacy we leave behind for future generations.

Short-term thinking happens in the marshmallow brain (named after the famous Stanford marshmallow test), while long-term thinking and strategizing occurs in the acorn brain. By retraining ourselves to use the acorn brain more often, we can ensure that trillions of people—including our grandchildren and their grandchildren—aren't inheriting a depleted world and the worst traits that humankind has to offer.

"At the moment we're using on average 1.6 planet earths each year in terms of our ecological footprint," says Krznaric, but that doesn't mean that it's too late to turn things around. Thinking long term about things like politics and education can help "rebuild our imaginations of what a civilization could be."

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ROMAN KRZNARIC:

Roman Krznaric is a public philosopher who writes about the power of ideas to change society. His latest book is The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long-Term Thinking. His previous books, including Empathy, The Wonderbox and Carpe Diem Regained, have been published in more than 20 languages. After growing up in Sydney and Hong Kong, Roman studied at the universities of Oxford, London and Essex, where he gained his PhD in political sociology. He is founder of the world’s first Empathy Museum and is currently a Research Fellow of the Long Now Foundation.

Check Roman Krznaric's latest book "The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long-Term Thinking" at https://amzn.to/3fGPwnF

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What if AI could tell us we have cancer before we show a single symptom? Steve Quake, head of science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, explains how AI can revolutionize science.

AI can help us understand complex systems like our cells. better. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is committed to building one of the world’s biggest non-profit life science AI computing clusters to help build digital models of what goes wrong in cells when we get diseases like diabetes or cancer and more.

We created this video in partnership with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

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About Steve Quake:

Steve Quake oversees a shared, comprehensive strategy across the CZ Science program and technology teams, the CZ Biohub Network, and the Chan Zuckerberg Institute for Advanced Biological Imaging.

His research is at the nexus of biology, physics, and technology development. He has invented many measurement tools for biology, including new DNA sequencing technologies that have enabled rapid analysis of the human genome, and microfluidic automation that allows scientists to efficiently isolate cells for single-cell biology.

Quake is also the Lee Otterson Professor of Bioengineering and professor of applied physics at Stanford University. He joined Stanford in 2005 to help found and lead Stanford’s then-new bioengineering department as it grew to nearly two dozen faculty members. He was an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 2006 to 2016...

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“I feel like I had to lose my sight to fully gain my vision.” John Furniss on how becoming blind led him to drug abuse, rehab, woodworking, and finally, to a fulfilling life.

John Furniss, also known as the Blind Woodsman, opens up about his journey from a difficult past to finding peace and purpose. After losing his sight as a teenager, John struggled for years to accept his new reality, battling inner turmoil and substance abuse along the way. It wasn't until he discovered woodworking through a vocational rehab program that he found a way to channel his creativity and start healing.

Woodworking became more than just a skill for John; it allowed him to bring the designs he imagined in his mind to life. This craft also led him to meet his wife, Annie, who has been a constant source of love and support. Through his work and his relationship, John found a sense of belonging and a new way of seeing the world. He reflects on how losing his sight actually helped him gain a clearer vision of who he is and what he’s meant to do, ultimately finding peace in embracing his true self.

John’s new memoir, ‘The Blind Woodsman’, is available through his publisher: https://foxchapelpublishing.com/produ...

We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators.

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About John Furniss:

John Furniss, known professionally as The Blind Woodsman, is a skilled woodworker, author, and disability advocate recognized for his meticulous hand-turned creations. After losing his sight at 16, John faced significant challenges adapting to life with total blindness. In his 20s, he found his passion for woodworking through a class designed for the blind, which led to the development of his unique craft.

Today, John’s work has been featured on platforms such as Good Morning America and The Kelly Clarkson Show. He and his wife, Anni, who is also an artist, use their social media platforms to share their work and raise awareness about disability and mental health. John’s expertise in woodworking and his contributions to the art community have established him as a respected figure in his field.

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Harvard has conducted an 85-year-long study on what makes humans happy. Psychiatrist Robert Waldinger explains what they found.

Up next, Master your anxiety. Unleash your genius ►   • Master your anxiety. Unleash your gen

What is the one thing that, according to science, will make our lives richer and vastly more fulfilling? This 85-year continuing longitudinal study from Harvard says the answer is relationships.

Dr. Robert Waldinger is the current director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest-running research on adult life. Tracking over 2,000 lives since 1938, Waldinger and his team have dissected the fabric of well-being, finding that wealth and achievements fall short compared to the power of our connections with other people.

Over the eight decades since the study began, scientists have determined that loneliness and isolation can have negative effects on our mental, emotional, and even physical well-being. Key findings of this study suggest that nurturing relationships may serve as our best source of fulfillment, emphasizing the need for "social fitness" alongside mental and physical health.

According to Waldinger, it’s time to invest in the bonds that matter, which, ultimately, is an investment in yourself.

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Former SNL star @JayPharoahComedy answers our most challenging questions about life, self-esteem, and changing his mind.

Jay Pharoah is known best for his impressions, but he’s got a lot more going on. The actor, comedian, and rapper sat down with us to talk about embracing triumphs, overcoming setbacks, forgiveness, and the way all of it shapes who you are

We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators.

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About Jay Pharoah:

Jay Pharoah is an actor and stand-up comedian. With six seasons as a cast member of NBC's Saturday Night Live, Pharoah is best known for his wide array of uncanny celebrity impressions, including President Barack Obama, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Stephen A. Smith, Kanye West and Chris Tucker, as well as his recurring character, school principal Daniel Frye...

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Americans no longer feel safe to speak their minds. The levels of self-silencing in the country rival that of Mccarthyism in the late 1940s – or higher, says research scientist Todd Rose. Our social trust is non-existent, so much so that many are opting out of sharing their opinions altogether, making way for those at the extremes to be the dominant voices.

But just because the most vocal want something, doesn’t mean that the rest of the country shares this ideology. In fact, our brains mistake this extremist noise for consensus, reinforcing the lie that this is what we must believe.

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Here’s why this social silence must be changed. Why it's healthy to invite in other points of view – even if they differ from yours.

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This is The Dilemma with Irshad Manji, a series from Big Think created in partnership with Moral Courage College.

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About Irshad Manji:

Irshad Manji is an award-winning educator, author, and advocate for moral courage and diversity of thought. As the founder of Moral Courage College, she equips people to engage in honest conversations across lines of difference.

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Is “identity synthesis” the remedy for racial injustice? This political scientist says no.

Yascha Mounk, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and host of “The Good Fight” podcast, explains how identity synthesis - an ideology based on treating people differently depending on their race, gender, or sexual orientation - can be quite harmful to society. He uses the example of racially segregated classrooms, claiming that it is human tendency to inherently side with someone in your “group” before you side with someone from another.

Mounk argues that identity synthesis will only further divide us, as it goes directly against the ideologies of Black American thinkers like Fredrick Douglas and Martin Luther King Jr, who fought avidly for equality in the United States.

By following this identity-first ideology, we may be reversing the work done by these social rights activists. Instead, we should lean further into their legacy of advocating for universal principles, where individuals are judged not by the categories they belong to but by their character and actions.

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About Yascha Mounk:

Yascha Mounk is a writer and academic known for his work on the crisis of democracy and the defense of philosophically liberal values.

Born in Germany to Polish parents, Yascha received his BA in History from Trinity College Cambridge and his PhD in Government from Harvard University. He is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, where he holds appointments in both the School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute. Yascha is also a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Moynihan Public Fellow at City College. He is the Founder of Persuasion, the host of The Good Fight podcast, and serves as a publisher (Herausgeber) at Die Zeit.

Yascha has written five books: Stranger in My Own Country - A Jewish Family in Modern Germany, a memoir about Germany’s fraught attempts to deal with its past; The Age of Responsibility – Luck, Choice and the Welfare State, which argues that a growing obsession with the concept of individual responsibility has transformed western welfare states; The People versus Democracy – Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It, which explains the causes of the populist rise and investigates how to renew liberal democracy; and The Great Experiment - Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure, which argues that anybody who seeks to help ethnically and religiously diverse democracies thrive has reason to embrace a more ambitious vision for their future than is now fashionable; and his latest, The Identity Trap - A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, which tells the story of how a new set of ideas about race, gender and sexual orientation came to be extremely influential in mainstream institutions, and why it would be a mistake to give up on a more universalist humanism. Next to his work for The Atlantic, Yascha also occasionally writes for newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs. He is also a regular contributor to major international publications including Die Zeit, La Repubblica, El País, l'Express and Folha de São Paolo, among others.

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You can’t predict success. But according to minds like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michio Kaku & more, you can hot wire it.

It’s perhaps never been easier to feel as if you’ve fallen behind in life. From the anxieties of comparing yourself to others online to our fetishization of success, it can seem like everyone else is out there attaining their goals and feeling happy while you feel stuck.

The reality is that many people feel stuck — even those who present themselves as models of conventional success. So, what are some ways you can meaningfully work toward your goals, while also making sure that your goals are worth pursuing in the first place?

Todd Rose, the co-founder and president of the think tank Populace, offers a framework called the “dark horse” mindset. As a rejection of conventional wisdom about how to succeed, the mindset includes four main strategies: know your micromotives, know your choices, know your strategies, and ignore the destination.

Weighing in on those strategies and broader questions about success are other Big Think contributors, including Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michio Kaku, and Alex Banayan.

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Chapters for easier navigation:-

0:00 Introduction

0:43 What is a 'dark horse'?

1:20 Dark horse lesson #1: Know your micro-motives

2:09 Neil deGrasse Tyson's mindset

2:57 Dark horse lesson #2: Know your choices

3:12 Steven Spielberg's mindset

6:06 Dark horse lesson #3: Know your strategies

6:30 Michio Kaku: Eisenhower's mindset

7:42 Dark horse lesson #4: Ignore the destination

8:15 Sarah Robb O'Hagan's mindset

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Is race politics poisoning young minds? Coleman Hughes offers his argument.

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chapters:

0:00 intro

0:43 who is coleman hughes

5:02 what is race

8:37 social constructs

13:02 racism

15:34 colorblindness

18:27 the branding

21:03 building a colorblind society

22:34 schools vs learnings

30:44 colorblind policies

33:40 examples of colorblind policies

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Beat anxiety with the most addictive experience on Earth

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Coleman Hughes is an American writer and podcast host known for his work on issues related to race, racism, and racial inequality. In this interview, we dive into the themes of his book, "The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America."

Hughes articulates a vision for a future where individuals are judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. Drawing from research and personal insights, he advocates for a society that embraces a colorblind ethos, aiming to dismantle divisive narratives and foster a more inclusive national identity.

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About Coleman Hughes:

Coleman Hughes is a writer, podcaster and opinion columnist who specializes in issues related to race, public policy and applied ethics. Coleman’s writing has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Quillette, The City Journal and The Spectator. He appeared on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in 2021.

-----------------------------

Discover Big Think | Smarter Faster™

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