Dude, wouldn't it be totally cool if there was an opposite microwave to cool tasty canned beverages in seconds? What if underwear had pockets? They'd be called Underawesomes! And don't you think ketchup packets should be bigger? Oh man, speaking of munchies, what if you had see-through fudge? You could see right through it! Dang, it would be rad if there was smokable tape you could use to repair your busted spliff, huh? But I mean, dude, there should like really be a website where stoners could post and discuss the ideas they get when they're super high. I'd call it highDEAS.
posted by carsonb on Aug 3, 2009 - 99 comments

Innovation, Ideas and the Global Standard of Living by Charles Kenny: "The Success of Development acts like a sword through many of the Gordian knots plaguing the development community, especially those surrounding the rate of economic growth in many developing countries. Put that question to one side, says Kenny, and suddenly a lot of much more interesting questions, about issues like education and healthcare and clean water and human rights, come into a lot more focus. And if you use those metrics, rather than GDP growth, to judge the success or failure of developing countries, then things look rather more optimistic than you might think." (pdf) Glenn Hubbard's review, cf. Technological Creativity and Economic Progress [more inside]
posted by kliuless on Jun 25, 2009 - 2 comments

"In fact, while transactional credit provision is a perfectly good business, it might be reasonable for the state to offer basic transactional credit as a public good." Blogger Steve Randy Waldman has an idea that's so crazy it might work. He buried it in a nice wonky, obscure post about transactional and revolving credit, but now has been linked by Ezra Klein at his new WaPo blog. Will Metafilter heads explode?
posted by emjaybee on May 25, 2009 - 27 comments

Jared Diamond on the Evolution of Religions. (SLYT)
posted by Artw on Apr 8, 2009 - 46 comments

Which way are the winds blowing in the world today? From New Calvinism to Ecological Intelligence, here are 10 ideas that are changing the world right now.
posted by daniel_charms on Mar 18, 2009 - 14 comments

The Signtific Lab invites people to develop cutting-edge ideas through experiments of imagination and discussion. Experiment One: what would happen if outer space becomes as accessible as the Web today?
posted by divabat on Feb 18, 2009 - 12 comments

"What are the new liberal arts?", asks SnarkMarket, inspired by Jason Kottke's tagline and Edge. The blog post has turned into a pitch for a new collaborative book, with spirited discussions and over 100 suggestions including photography, design, relationships, mythology, intuitive thinking, synthesis, knowledge mastery, search, archiving, play, and home economics.
posted by divabat on Feb 4, 2009 - 44 comments

Pattern Tap: an organized collection of web design ideas. [more inside]
posted by signal on Nov 29, 2008 - 8 comments

A New State of Mind. "New research is linking dopamine to complex social phenomena and changing neuroscience in the process."
posted by homunculus on Aug 12, 2008 - 25 comments

Philip Pullman interviewed about the ideas behind "His Dark Materials" [YT,1 hour, South Bank Show,parts 2,3,4,5,6,7]. Inside, and hidden from those who don't want spoilers, are links relating to the ideas raised and about the books generally. [more inside]
posted by rongorongo on Jun 23, 2008 - 85 comments

Teams of student entrepreneurs around the world had six days to add value to a stack of Post-It notes as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week. The results are documented in Imagine It!, which aims to promote creative thinking. [more inside]
posted by divabat on May 7, 2008 - 20 comments

Rick Poynor asks - isn't it time we demanded more from design conferences?
posted by divabat on Apr 18, 2008 - 6 comments

Moving houses but don't want to buy bulky furniture? Get a Casulo.
posted by divabat on Feb 13, 2008 - 13 comments

"When the world's great scientific thinkers change their minds". Some Big Name thinkers (Dyson, Pinker, Venter, ...) change their minds on some Big Ideas (race, evolution, global warming,..) and explain why in about a paragraph each. Via Edge.
posted by stbalbach on Feb 12, 2008 - 53 comments

Better World Books - Recently recognized by Fast Company as one of the best for-profit social enterprises of 2008, they offer a wide selection of new and used books with free shipping in the US and less than $3 shipping elsewhere. A portion of the profits go to fund literacy organizations such as Room to Read and WorldFund, and their shipping is carbon-neutral. The only thing missing is the ability to import Amazon wishlists.
posted by divabat on Jan 16, 2008 - 18 comments

64-year-old Frank Pringle has figured out a way to extract oil and natural gas out of nearly anything.
posted by divabat on Jan 11, 2008 - 66 comments

The Ideas Catalogue is a weird and wacky thing. It features ideas of things, and nothing more. They are for sale, and some have been bought.
posted by jonathanstrange on Oct 30, 2007 - 10 comments

On December 8th, pretend to be a time traveller.
posted by divabat on Sep 27, 2007 - 49 comments

The Idea Generator.
posted by jbickers on Aug 14, 2007 - 52 comments

My Million Dollar Ideas "Ever since I thought up of the basic idea of the World Wide Web in 1990 and didn't write it down, I thought I should start documenting these more." Jon Konrath takes notes on certain of his harebrained ideas. Examples to date: the pneumatic-tube-food-delivery theme restaurant 'Tubes,' America's next hit gameshow 'Heads or Tails,' and several ideas that combine the concepts of American status-seeking image-consciousness, SUVs, car conversion kits, and hybrids.
posted by mwhybark on May 22, 2007 - 37 comments

What is Web 2.0? [PDF] The best description of Web 2.0 that I have read. The six big ideas... 1 Individual production and User Generated Content 2 Harness the power of the crowd 3 Data on an epic scale 4 Architecture of Participation 5 Network Effects 6 Openness
posted by bobbyelliott on Mar 8, 2007 - 78 comments

Random Friday! pictures, confessions, quotes, wiki, word, kittens, livejournal, family circus, flickr groups, essay, comic strip, idea, haiku, howto, bullshit, inspiration
posted by petsounds on Feb 16, 2007 - 22 comments

Some new gadgets, things and inventions: solar bikini that charges your ipod, paper soft wall, waterproof laptop, million dollar fishing lure, Obvio hybrid micro-car, needle-free injection, hi-tech dummies that can speak, breathe, bleed, react to drugs & die, dragon bag. Interactive sight, sound and physical objects from the student artists of the NYU Interactive telecommunications biannual showcase [video], including Animalia Chordata and Botanicalls, building telecommunications between people and their plants.
posted by nickyskye on Jan 7, 2007 - 22 comments

In need of last-minute Christmas gifts? Want to help the world in some way? Websites like ChangingThePresent and Alternative Gifts International allow you to buy or sponsor something useful as a present - from an hour with a creative coach, to wheelchairs in Cambodia; from walking children to school in the West Bank to flighting corruption. Maybe even a charity gift certificate? [more inside]
posted by divabat on Dec 23, 2006 - 19 comments

Steven Foster is the perfect bartender. He wants to share his ontology, his reflections on what it means to be happy, bird aquariums, how to make margarita mix from scratch, solutions to the world's five most pressing problems [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or just read the summary on every page towards the bottom], and more drink recipes than you can shake a stick at. This man delivers.
posted by trinarian on Oct 12, 2006 - 20 comments

The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days. What would you choose to do?

06. Draw on a sidewalk with chalk?
23. Sing Milli Vanilli in a karaoke bar?
27. Be flexible?
28. Find your biological father?
31. Panic on the 1000th day?

Maybe you'd like to team up with others?
posted by divabat on May 15, 2006 - 16 comments

The Open Mind. First Broadcast in May, 1956, The Open Mind is still produced weekly by Richard D. Heffner, host, historian, and University Professor of Communications and Public Policy at Rutgers University. These conversations with some of the most creative thinkers of the last half-century are available on the Internet.
posted by semmi on May 13, 2006 - 1 comment

A talk given by Matt Webb on fictional futures, and a whole lot besides. Just some text and some pictures, but he takes you on a most excellent brain adventure, from Italo Calvino to a map of all the biochemical reactions on Earth to Vannevar Bush’s machine, the Memex with dozens of stops in between. One of my favorite parts -- and the coolest use of RSS I've ever seen -- is a tool to subscribe to your personal lightcone. [via]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on May 7, 2006 - 18 comments

All those in favor of a mandatory web labeling law, say "ay!"
posted by trinarian on Apr 22, 2006 - 23 comments

Conversation is an art. "Hume suggested that politeness was not, in fact, "natural to the human mind," but "presumption and arrogance" were. Society depends on artifice. Conversation is an art." "American conversation now prides itself on angry authenticity or on being kind and "nonjudgmental"; it is meant to be "natural" and full of "self-expression." This does not make for great conversation or a vital political life."
posted by semmi on Mar 20, 2006 - 21 comments

The Atlantic Ideas Tour It's been almost 150 years since a group of writers that included a group of writers that included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., and James Russell Lowell founded The Atlantic Monthly. The magazine is klcking off a year–long celebration of its upcoming 150th anniversary by having each issue this year based around articles from their archives. [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha on Jan 19, 2006 - 15 comments

Edge 2006: What is your dangerous idea?
posted by grrarrgh00 on Jan 1, 2006 - 106 comments

2005 - The Year in Ideas. From Accredited Bliss to Zombie Dogs, the NY Times runs through the year's scientific, cultural, and academic developments.
posted by ph00dz on Dec 11, 2005 - 13 comments

Thank you, Mr. Sinclair is a three part tribute to Lister Sinclair starting tonight, part of celebrating 40 years of Ideas on CBC Radio. Only a small selection of Ideas programs are available for download, which is a travesty, but the current program can be heard bia streaming audio from many time zones. [more inside]
posted by Chuckles on Nov 22, 2005 - 6 comments

One Bright Idea After Another ... Well, not always. But some interesting viewing here.
posted by Fozzie on Jun 18, 2005 - 2 comments

the simplest ideas are usually the best ones. Its easy to forget that the internet is a relatively new medium. Whats the bet that in the future that we will all be wishing that we still had all of our content that we contributed to "cyberspace" such as reviews, comments, posts... Who knows if 10 - 15 years from now, if the sites we post on will still be up, even stable sites such as MetaFilter may not exist in the future. sites have shut down before, taking everyones content with it. Its a simple idea, why not just store your content, be it on your desktop or a web application? So who wants to start a MeFi label over at bulletin board buddy.
posted by omega on Mar 16, 2005 - 30 comments

10 most important ideas of 2004: blogs and the Internet highlights some interesting views on the relationship of blogs to mainstream journalism. In light of the recent discussion relating to that topic, it is interesting to see some new views emerge.
posted by TNLNYC on Jan 31, 2005 - 10 comments

The Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas, edited by Philip P. Wiener, was published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, in 1973-74. The Dictionary of the History of Ideas also appeared in Chinese- and Japanese-language editions. However, the DHI has been out of print for many years. Aware of the new potential offered by electronic access to texts, the Directors and Board of Editors of the Journal of the History of Ideas authorized a grant to support digitization of the DHI. Substantial support has also been provided by the University of Virginia Library through its Electronic Text Center. Came across this at Three Toed Sloth, the weblog of the inestimable Cosma Shalizi, subject of a previous post by yours truly, which I found at this Social History of Friday Cat Blogging in the New York Times, which also mentions a Carnival of the Cats, which is evidently a weekly omnibus of Friday cat blogging posted on the following Sunday. Well, there's a bookmark in here for almost everyone, or so I aim to please.
posted by y2karl on Oct 28, 2004 - 12 comments

Change This - We're betting that a significant portion of the population wants to hear thoughtful, rational, constructive arguments about important issues. We're certain that the best of these manifestos will spread, hand to hand, person to person, until these manifestos have reached a critical mass and actually changed the tone and substance of our debate.
posted by dobbs on Aug 23, 2004 - 11 comments

Want to create your own TV Show? So do some folks who aren't from the big lit up place we call Hollywood.... All you've got to do is click up on the site, sign up, pay $25 bucks, and you're in... Oh - and you have to have an idea, too. [thanks MSNBC]
posted by djspicerack on Jul 30, 2003 - 3 comments

General Thinking "began in early 2001 as a collaboration between Remo Giuffré, Geoffrey Gifford, along with a shared intuitive desire to gather together a global Network of Thinkers who shared certain Beliefs." Their "roster" includes Erik "MetaDesign" Spiekermann and a variety of interesting folks. Friendster for the digerati? Always interesting to read what the elite think of their peers...
posted by shoepal on Jul 16, 2003 - 4 comments

Best Ideas Of 2002: From 'The Ambulance-Homicide Theory' to 'Women Are Just as Jealous as Men', the NYTM 2nd Annual Year in Ideas details 97 recent Gibsonian additions to life in these modern times.
posted by yonderboy on Dec 23, 2002 - 9 comments

It's not a news link if the news is total fluff. For your consideration: a suit drawn on stealing the idea to REMAKE a film, then a suit drawn over who saw a SAMPLE first. The debate! Which outweighs, legal chicanery or creative bankruptcy?
posted by damehex on Oct 9, 2002 - 10 comments

Tick Tock Bang (script) (from CBC's Ideas) (from 1999) is an enjoyable way to spend 45 minutes. A survey of Noise as Music from Schoenberg to Glass to Kraftwerk to Industrial and Techno. Noise Art is here to stay.
posted by vacapinta on Aug 17, 2002 - 9 comments

All your Ideas are belong to US. What happens when you agree that your inventions belong to your employer, even when you aren't done inventing them yet? Why, they sue you!
posted by dwivian on Aug 14, 2002 - 14 comments

Chicken or Egg? Well .... neither, apparently.

"One little chap thought that you got orange juice from milk, because the milkman delivered orange juice to his door ".

Anyone else have amusingly misguided, yet (slightly) logical assumptions as a kid?.

posted by MintSauce on May 2, 2002 - 107 comments

This new trading card game takes an ironic look a a bunch of "Bad Ideas" from the dot-com boom and bust. The object is to remain in business as long as possible by raising money from VC's and forcing your opponents to spend resources on developing bad ideas... You can't actually generate any revenue, of course :-)
posted by sib on May 1, 2002 - 7 comments

One idea a day for the rest of time, copyright-free.
posted by Su on Dec 9, 2001 - 14 comments

Unleash your idea virus. A groundbreaking article from Fast Company - on the same order as the one a while back they published called "a Brand Called You". Very interesting read if you are hoping to be the holder of the next "big idea"....
posted by triptych on Jul 21, 2000 - 1 comment