Back in 2004, a Harvard student pitched then-university president Larry Summers on the idea of creating a site for intellectuals, aiming to do for high IQs "what YouTube...did for bulldogs on skateboards." A year later, Summers invested in the idea, and an impressive collection of other investors followed.
Now this You Tube for intellectuals, BigThink, has gone live. The site features interviews with "public intellectuals" from all disciplines. Most of the interviews have the same format, with the interviewers off-camera in the style of filmmaker Errol Morris ("Thin Blue Line," "Fog of War").
Many of the subjects are lofty ones, such as "Are beliefs innate or learned?" or "Is free trade fair trade?" or "What is the measure of a good life?" Many of the interviews are relatively prosaic, even if the interviewees are not. For example, the site interviewed Sir Richard Branson and asked "Beyond a Brand, What is Virgin?"
All in all, Big Think promises to be another Internet time suck, chock-filled with interesting questions posed to interesting people. But let's hope the brainy folks behind Big Think catch up with a few good "street level" marketing folks. A site that proclaims its "intellectual" orientation is destined to struggle (even intellectuals shudder a little at that term) and the intellectual label doesn't even really apply anyway.
The site doesn't interview leading thinkers on, say, Cartesian philosophy. (My initial fear.) In fact, it asks Moby what he might advise young artists to do. It's smart, if a little glitchy. An intriguing interview with the title "Are we in a recession?" didn't load, and an interview with Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer failed to load the first time, but did load on a second try.
Maybe Big Think should tone down the characterizations and simply say it's a site featuring smart interviews with interesting people.
Cynthia Brumfield at 2:49 AM|Comments(0)
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