critical thinking
Philosophers rarely change their minds. These thinkers did — often at social and professional cost.
A childhood spent under the spell of sleight-of-hand taught me skepticism, curiosity, and the habit of looking beneath appearances.
Real understanding, argues Jeff DeGraff, doesn’t come from outputs — it comes from practice.
“Who ya gonna believe: me or your own eyes?” Until you can assess your perception, the answer should be neither.
“We are racing towards a new era in which we outsource cognitive abilities that are central to our identity as thinking beings,” writes computer scientist Louis Rosenberg.
“It is natural to want to avoid failure. But when we avoid failure, we also avoid discovery and accomplishment.”
“For every PhD there is an equal and opposite PhD.”
Arendt thought 20th-century philosophy had become too passive and abstract. She called for “active thinking” that prepares us to live in the real world.
Grandmasters and drug dealers have one thing in common: They are many steps ahead of their rivals.
The latest from Peter Leyden’s “The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050”, an essay series published by Freethink.
A brief guide to habits that separate deep understanding from superficial knowledge — and how to cultivate them.
Timothy Caulfield, a leading science communicator, discusses the challenges of combatting misinformation in an age of information overload.
“Ultimately, the choice rests with each individual: whether to take the convenient route of allowing AI to handle our critical thinking, or to preserve this essential cognitive process for ourselves.”
Yondr CEO Graham Dugoni unpacks the technological zeitgeist in this exclusive Big Think interview covering media ecology, leadership, AI, human connection, and much more.
Astronomer Adam Frank reflects on some responses to his recent appearance on the Lex Fridman Podcast.
Participants’ brains revealed they were doing a kind of “neural replay” of the game they had been manipulated to win.
Confronting your “absolute stupidity” is a sign you’re on course to learning something new and wonderful.
When appraising human behavior, people tend to forgo the lessons of psychology in favor of assumption and anecdote.
Alex Edmans, professor of finance at the London Business School, warns us to be mindful of the incentives surrounding misinformation — including our desire to believe it.
The tech world’s fixation on artificial intelligence has spawned beliefs and rituals that resemble religion — complete with digital deities, moral codes, and threats of damnation.
Encouraging thoughtful responses over impulsive reactions can help prevent AI exploitation in decision-making.
Plato’s cave metaphor illustrates the cognitive trap of ignorance, where we may be unaware of the limitations of our understanding.
The late philosopher suggested adding a couple of “Occam’s heuristics” to your critical thinking toolbox.
Studying why innovation clusters form can shed light on how to better promote research and growth.
The electoral reform also known as instant-runoff voting promises bridge-building and broad appeal instead of culture war and gridlock.
Changing the narrative on false memories might be surprisingly simple.
New evidence suggests the corvid family has surprising mental abilities.
Why human attempts to mechanize logic keep breaking down.
Thinking of a number between one and ten? Here’s how predictable human responses create the illusion of telepathy.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.