Big History

Most recent stories in Big History

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  How the laws of physics could prevent AI from gaining sentience

  TNW - Tristan Greene

  A renowned theoretical computer science expert recently released an astonishing physics pre-print paper that tosses fuel on the fiery debate over… whether humans could use wormholes to traverse the universe or not. Don’t worry, I’ll explain what this has to do with self-aware robots in due …

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  The history of our world in 18 minutes

  ted.com - David Christian

  Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 …

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  From plant to paper cup: The economics of coffee in one chart

  World Economic Forum - Omri Wallach

  Breaking down the economics of coffee What goes into your morning cup of coffee, and what makes it possible? The obvious answer might be coffee beans, …

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  Will humans go extinct?

  Inverse - Nick Longrich

  The short answer is yes. Will our species go extinct? The short answer is yes. The fossil record shows everything goes extinct, eventually. Almost all …

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  The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake

  The Atlantic - David Brooks

  The scene is one many of us have somewhere in our family history: Dozens of people celebrating Thanksgiving or some other holiday around a makeshift stretch of family tables—siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, great-aunts. The grandparents are telling the old family stories for the 37th time. “It was …

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  The Anthropocene Is a Joke

  The Atlantic - Peter Brannen

  Humans are now living in a new geological epoch of our own making: the Anthropocene. Or so we’re told. Whereas some epochs in Earth history stretch more than 40 million years, this new chapter started maybe 400 years ago, when carbon dioxide dipped by a few parts per million in the atmosphere. Or …