Skip to content
Guest Thinkers

Tell Us What “Dangerous Ideas” You Like

Now that August, Big Think’s month of thinking dangerously, is over, we’d like you to give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to 10 of the radical ideas we presented.
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

With yesterday’s blog post—our 30th dangerous idea—on taxing fat people (to incentivize the obese to lose weight and save the public-health system money), Big Think officially ends The Month of Thinking Dangerously.  The purpose of the month was to stimulate discussion about 30 radical ideas that deserved discussion even if just to reject them.  (Even though August is over, we’ll continue to periodically serve up dangerous ideas in this blog).  Now we want to know what you think.  Vote the following 10 ideas up or down, depending on whether you think they should be implemented.


For more information on the ideas above:

  • Drug our drinking water with a low dose of lithium in the hopes of lifting moods and lowering suicide rates.
  • Tax fat people.
  • Legalize all drugs.
  • Abandon Earth, as Stephen Hawking urges, or face extinction.
  • End aid to Africa.
  • Erase traumatic memories (and achieve your own “eternal sunshine”).
  • Sell American citizenship.
  • Introduce elephants and lions to the Great Plains.
  • Mandatory bible study.
  • Allow infant euthanasia.
  • Sign up for Big Think on Substack
    The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

    Related
    The hospital where Rainn Wilson’s wife and son nearly died became his own personal holy site. There, he discovered that the sacred can exist in places we least expect it. During his talk at A Night of Awe and Wonder, he explained how the awe we feel in moments of courage and love is moral beauty — and following it might be the start of our spiritual revolution.
    13 min
    with

    Up Next