Most people think CIA agents are born extraordinary. Charming, genius, and ready to win every fight, gliding through danger like James Bond. But the reality isn’t so glamorous, reveals former spy Andrew Bustamante. Real spies aren’t superheroes; they’re invisible. They’re the people you’d never remember seeing in line for coffee, the ones who thrive on being overlooked.
From the grueling 18‑month recruitment process to the moral flexibility required to operate in gray zones, Bustamante explains how the CIA builds operatives who can disappear, adapt, and serve missions above everything else.
This video The hidden process of becoming a CIA agent, from a former spy is featured on Big Think.
Continue Reading »
Black holes represent some of the most mysterious objects in our Universe. Although they were predicted even before general relativity was put forth — and even though thousands of them have now been spotted all throughout the Universe — we can only see what happens outside of their event horizons. Their interiors are forever cut off from us by the presence of an event horizon: a boundary separating what can interact with the outside Universe from what cannot. Inside of every black hole, a singularity is theorized to exist: a location where the laws of physics themselves break down, and where even space and time as we know them cease to exist.
On the other hand, our Universe could have initially emerged from a singularity, giving rise to a state of cosmic inflation followed by what we recognize as the hot Big Bang: the starting point for all of the known matter and radiation that’s arisen within our observable Universe. Is it possible that these two concepts — a forming black hole on one hand, and the emergence of our observable ... Continue Reading »
The applause was deafening.
Starting at the very lip of the stage, it swept backward, section by section and row by row, gaining in intensity. Men and women leapt to their feet, clapping furiously. From the loges and the mezzanine erupted a cascade of shouts and whistles and bravos, while in the cheap seats and the standing‑room‑only section at the rear of the house, playgoers stomped their feet and yelled at the top of their lungs. They had never seen or heard anything like it. For there on the stage, illuminated by the cool glow of the gaslights, wasn’t just another actor taking a bow. Here was a sensation, a revelation, a talent touched by the hand of God.
His name was John Wilkes Booth.
“He was one of the few,” recalled the English actor Charles Wyndham, who had appeared onstage with Booth in Washington during the spring of 1863, “to whom that ill‑used term of genius might be applied with perfect truth.” Newspaper drama critics agreed. “A genius,” declared the Chicago Tribune. “He was possessed of true genius” — Philadelphia Bulletin. “His ... Continue Reading »
I just returned from a retreat in Scotland with a small group of close friends — mostly founders and investors. One of them was Nico Michaelsen, whose work, I believe, could quietly lay the foundation for what he might call a new layer of “wisdom architecture.”
Nico’s recent essay, Birth of the Wisdom Economy, argues that as AI rapidly automates knowledge work, the real scarcity — and opportunity — lies in cultivating human maturity: presence, discernment, emotional clarity, and ethical coherence. “In a world defined by instability and interdependence, the ability to stay calm under pressure, make sense of complexity, resolve polarities, and act with integrity is no longer a luxury,” he writes. “It’s a prerequisite for leadership, coordination, and societal continuity.”
Nico’s venture studio, Basin Collective, is developing the foundational tools — modern monasteries, open-source wisdom infrastructure, and vocational pathways — to support what he calls the “reattuning” of over one billion adults for a post-AI world. To me, it’s a necessary idea — one we should be thinking about more seriously.
Key quote: “There are pathways we can iterate off of, ... Continue Reading »
Why did we overlook the lessons from some of our most transformative breakthroughs? The U.S. once excelled at scaling new technologies like clean energy and advanced medicine, such as the penicillin injection. But we’ve increasingly left promising innovations stuck on the shelf. So why did America fall so far behind in building?
Using the forgotten success of Operation Warp Speed as a blueprint, Abundance co-author Derek Thompson challenges us to imagine a world where we apply that same urgency to cancer drugs, carbon‑neutral cement, and beyond.
This video The laboratory accident that saved 500 million lives is featured on Big Think.
Continue Reading »
If there’s one equation that people learn about physics — and no, not Einstein’s E = mc² — it’s Newton’s F = ma. Despite the fact that it’s been in widespread use for some ~350 years now, as that’s how much time has elapsed since Newton first put it forth in the late 17th century, it rarely makes physicists’ lists of most important equations. Yet it’s the one equation that physics students learn more than any other at the introductory level, and it remains important at every level as we advance:
through our undergraduate educations,
through graduate school,
among physics and engineering professionals,
and even when we move on to rocket science, calculus, and some very intense, advanced, and esoteric concepts.
F = ma, despite its apparent simplicity, keeps on delivering new insights to those who study it, just as it’s done for centuries. Part of the reason why it’s so undervalued is because it’s so widespread. After all, if you’re going to learn anything about physics, you’re going to learn about Newton, and this very equation is the key statement of Newton’s second law. ... Continue Reading »
The ball floated toward me, spinning 30 feet above my head. Six months later, I’d be trapped on my couch, unable to move. But in this moment, time seemed to slow as I tracked its arc, allowing the ball to arrive perfectly at my feet. With one touch, I brought it to a stop, and with a strike of my left boot, sent the ball 60 meters to land precisely in front of our right winger making his run.
I felt unstoppable, connected to something bigger than myself — some mystical element of “the game” that I had chosen to love, and that sometimes seemed to love me back.
Part of it was the mastery of self. It took discipline to transform myself into a better player, to overcome limited expectations from coaches, to surpass my own beliefs about what I was capable of. The discipline became its own reward, creating a quiet confidence that extended far beyond the field. I learned that the voice in my head saying “I can’t” is often just the first bid in a negotiation, not the ... Continue Reading »
Most people reading this article have had sex. Most don’t talk about it much. This isn’t to say Big Think’s audience is especially prudish, but it just reflects a very modern sensibility: Sex is a private thing to talk about in private.
In fact, even reading about it right now can be jarring for many people. There’s a kind of “context collapse” that happens when you come to a site like ours to read about astrophysics, neuroscience, and philosophy, only to find you’re reading about fisting, BDSM, and foot fetishes. Hide the phone, check your surroundings, and make sure no one can read over your shoulder. Don’t worry, we’ve made the top image suitably safe for work.
These are all things I spoke to Aella about for this week’s Mini Philosophy interview. Aella is a sex worker and writer who has one of the most popular newsletters in the world and is famous not only for her candor but also her rationalistic, data-driven attitude to all things sex. And, as I suspected, our conversation was insightful, intelligent, and philosophical.
You can hear the ... Continue Reading »
In defining compassion, a British and American research team led by Clara Strauss notes that an evolutionary perspective on compassion can be traced to Darwin. He concluded that “those communities which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best, and rear the greatest number of offspring.”
The team went on to summarize that compassion, stemming from the Latin word compati, meaning “to suffer with,” is now defined as going beyond empathy.
Compassion moves beyond an empathic desire to understand into engagement — doing something to make things better. It combines the desire or motivation to act with acting to alleviate suffering and promote well-being. Compassion also stretches upward and outward to understanding human suffering as a shared, universal experience. It includes the ability, and the strength, to tolerate the discomfort and distress brought on by caring and action.
In some contexts, and in leadership broadly, compassion has been declared a standard for authentically good intentions and actions. Strauss and collaborators cite the American Medical Association’s Principles of Medical Ethics, starting with “A physician shall be dedicated to providing competent ... Continue Reading »
The world creates moments when philosophy truly matters. This is one of those moments.
As AI continues to make our lives more convenient, the temptation to use it to outsource judgement will also grow, threatening to erode human decision-making altogether. Brendan McCord, founder of the Cosmos Institute, has spent his career advancing AI in the private and national security sectors. Led by a foundation in both technology and philosophy, he is proposing a new kind of technologist – a Philosopher-Builder – that could guide planetary-scale decision-making technology. According to McCord, approaching AI development with philosophical scrutiny is what will preserve our ability to live self-directed lives and flourish as humans.
We made this video in partnership with the Cosmos Institute, a network of thinkers and builders advancing human flourishing in the AI era.
This video Will AI erode human autonomy, or help us preserve it? is featured on Big Think.
Continue Reading »
Black holes represent some of the most mysterious objects in our Universe. Although they were predicted even before general relativity was put forth — and even though thousands of them have now been spotted all throughout the Universe — we can only see what happens outside of their event horizons. Their interiors are forever cut off from us by the presence of an event horizon: a boundary separating what can interact with the outside Universe from what cannot. Inside of every black hole, a singularity is theorized to exist: a location where the laws of physics themselves break down, and where even space and time as we know them cease to exist.
On the other hand, our Universe could have initially emerged from a singularity, giving rise to a state of cosmic inflation followed by what we recognize as the hot Big Bang: the starting point for all of the known matter and radiation that’s arisen within our observable Universe. Is it possible that these two concepts — a forming black hole on one hand, and the emergence of our observable ... 
The applause was deafening.
Starting at the very lip of the stage, it swept backward, section by section and row by row, gaining in intensity. Men and women leapt to their feet, clapping furiously. From the loges and the mezzanine erupted a cascade of shouts and whistles and bravos, while in the cheap seats and the standing‑room‑only section at the rear of the house, playgoers stomped their feet and yelled at the top of their lungs. They had never seen or heard anything like it. For there on the stage, illuminated by the cool glow of the gaslights, wasn’t just another actor taking a bow. Here was a sensation, a revelation, a talent touched by the hand of God.
His name was John Wilkes Booth.
“He was one of the few,” recalled the English actor Charles Wyndham, who had appeared onstage with Booth in Washington during the spring of 1863, “to whom that ill‑used term of genius might be applied with perfect truth.” Newspaper drama critics agreed. “A genius,” declared the Chicago Tribune. “He was possessed of true genius” — Philadelphia Bulletin. “His ... 
I just returned from a retreat in Scotland with a small group of close friends — mostly founders and investors. One of them was Nico Michaelsen, whose work, I believe, could quietly lay the foundation for what he might call a new layer of “wisdom architecture.”
Nico’s recent essay, Birth of the Wisdom Economy, argues that as AI rapidly automates knowledge work, the real scarcity — and opportunity — lies in cultivating human maturity: presence, discernment, emotional clarity, and ethical coherence. “In a world defined by instability and interdependence, the ability to stay calm under pressure, make sense of complexity, resolve polarities, and act with integrity is no longer a luxury,” he writes. “It’s a prerequisite for leadership, coordination, and societal continuity.”
Nico’s venture studio, Basin Collective, is developing the foundational tools — modern monasteries, open-source wisdom infrastructure, and vocational pathways — to support what he calls the “reattuning” of over one billion adults for a post-AI world. To me, it’s a necessary idea — one we should be thinking about more seriously.
Key quote: “There are pathways we can iterate off of, ... 
If there’s one equation that people learn about physics — and no, not Einstein’s E = mc² — it’s Newton’s F = ma. Despite the fact that it’s been in widespread use for some ~350 years now, as that’s how much time has elapsed since Newton first put it forth in the late 17th century, it rarely makes physicists’ lists of most important equations. Yet it’s the one equation that physics students learn more than any other at the introductory level, and it remains important at every level as we advance:
through our undergraduate educations,
through graduate school,
among physics and engineering professionals,
and even when we move on to rocket science, calculus, and some very intense, advanced, and esoteric concepts.
F = ma, despite its apparent simplicity, keeps on delivering new insights to those who study it, just as it’s done for centuries. Part of the reason why it’s so undervalued is because it’s so widespread. After all, if you’re going to learn anything about physics, you’re going to learn about Newton, and this very equation is the key statement of Newton’s second law. ... 
The ball floated toward me, spinning 30 feet above my head. Six months later, I’d be trapped on my couch, unable to move. But in this moment, time seemed to slow as I tracked its arc, allowing the ball to arrive perfectly at my feet. With one touch, I brought it to a stop, and with a strike of my left boot, sent the ball 60 meters to land precisely in front of our right winger making his run.
I felt unstoppable, connected to something bigger than myself — some mystical element of “the game” that I had chosen to love, and that sometimes seemed to love me back.
Part of it was the mastery of self. It took discipline to transform myself into a better player, to overcome limited expectations from coaches, to surpass my own beliefs about what I was capable of. The discipline became its own reward, creating a quiet confidence that extended far beyond the field. I learned that the voice in my head saying “I can’t” is often just the first bid in a negotiation, not the ... 
Most people reading this article have had sex. Most don’t talk about it much. This isn’t to say Big Think’s audience is especially prudish, but it just reflects a very modern sensibility: Sex is a private thing to talk about in private.
In fact, even reading about it right now can be jarring for many people. There’s a kind of “context collapse” that happens when you come to a site like ours to read about astrophysics, neuroscience, and philosophy, only to find you’re reading about fisting, BDSM, and foot fetishes. Hide the phone, check your surroundings, and make sure no one can read over your shoulder. Don’t worry, we’ve made the top image suitably safe for work.
These are all things I spoke to Aella about for this week’s Mini Philosophy interview. Aella is a sex worker and writer who has one of the most popular newsletters in the world and is famous not only for her candor but also her rationalistic, data-driven attitude to all things sex. And, as I suspected, our conversation was insightful, intelligent, and philosophical.
You can hear the ... 
In defining compassion, a British and American research team led by Clara Strauss notes that an evolutionary perspective on compassion can be traced to Darwin. He concluded that “those communities which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best, and rear the greatest number of offspring.”
The team went on to summarize that compassion, stemming from the Latin word compati, meaning “to suffer with,” is now defined as going beyond empathy.
Compassion moves beyond an empathic desire to understand into engagement — doing something to make things better. It combines the desire or motivation to act with acting to alleviate suffering and promote well-being. Compassion also stretches upward and outward to understanding human suffering as a shared, universal experience. It includes the ability, and the strength, to tolerate the discomfort and distress brought on by caring and action.
In some contexts, and in leadership broadly, compassion has been declared a standard for authentically good intentions and actions. Strauss and collaborators cite the American Medical Association’s Principles of Medical Ethics, starting with “A physician shall be dedicated to providing competent ...