[Music]
human beings we are these amazing
vessels that get thrust into the world
we show up here with multiple senses all
gathering information and it is just
it’s an incredibly beautiful and
awe-inspiring thing but one of the
things that I’ve been finding
interesting is that in this this moment
in time that’s so absolutely incredible
there’s sort of this devastatingly
ironic situation I think that we’re
faced with because when you look at you
know the accelerated exponential growth
of technology and Moore’s law just you
know showing disruption everywhere it’s
this moment where curiosity is
celebrated on many many levels but at
the site at the same time there’s kind
of a confluence of impact that’s going
on in our lives that is making a loss of
curiosity very real it’s becoming very
elusive for many people and community as
we’re trying to connect our communities
and cultures our curiosity is really
being pressed down and and eliminated
for many of us and that’s that’s really
where a lot of the future is is to be
had all our discoveries are found there
so what is it that makes curiosity so
important you know there’s a number of
things of course the discovery the
learning all of the the things that it
reveals for us it really pulls us all
forward as individuals as communities
it’s companies it’s really the train
that kind of pulls things ahead and our
thoughts are linked and and we build on
each other’s ideas and collaborations
but it’s also a press you know the
challenge that we have is it suppressed
by too much information too fast
the weight of that is actually causing a
holding back of thinking vulnerability
and empathy are being really really held
back but with happiness it does have a
role that is beyond just the discovery
side of things it’s also about happiness
when you’re curious and you’re learning
and you’re in the conditions that allow
you
to discover ideas and really explore
deeply and use all your senses you
actually are happier dopamine flows when
we’re happy there’s a physiological need
for curiosity and if we can move forward
with happiness as individuals that of
course resonates into community and
resonates further into cultural change
but this is what we need to try to hang
on to the the power of happiness and
curiosity is a big part of what it is
that we need to protect and that’s the
challenge that I want to speak about
today so what is it that’s killing
curiosity exactly as a designer I’ve
been able to work in a lot of different
communities and a lot of different
cultures and very fortunate to to be
part of the creative process in a number
of different directions but there’s a
couple of things that I’ve identified
that seem to be creating this this pain
to curiosity and the squelching of it
and they come in a couple of different
forms the expectation syndrome has
accelerated to an incredible pace as far
as our expectations of how technology
has developed how quickly it turns how
quickly products are created and move
forward and then that resonates into
people believing that decisions within
our communities and cultures and
connections should accelerate equally
fast so there’s an expectation that’s
set in motion that is nearly impossible
to meet and a lot of it happens further
upstream when investment is made and
return on investment is demanded that’s
a big part of where these expectations
come from and they’re often very
unrealistic expectations that creates
time compression so that brings
everything into question curiosity is
about depth of study about multi-sensory
experience and having the room for that
and there’s certainly a time compression
that’s happening that’s really pushing
people into situations where they’re
making surface based decisions they’re
not getting the chance to get as deep
into issues as they need to so time
compression is hurting everyone in the
process as well and then finally there’s
the digital delusion these these magic
little black mirrors that we all carry
we live in an age of wonder
absolutely but there’s a surface nature
to this it is not a multi-sensory
experience it is a very surface
experience
that we all appreciate the fact that we
can find the director’s name on that
film we can’t think of and that’s that’s
all really wonderful stuff and there’s
incredible depth there as well but when
we start replacing that kind of
information for thinking that’s real
experience that is a problem and we’re
living in a there’s a delusion that
we’re living and if we think that that
actually means experience that allows
you to empathetically connect with
individuals and each other and culture
to make really intelligent decisions and
come up with really beautiful ideas so
that’s that’s something that we really
need to think about is we’re living in
this age where there is a degree of a
delusion and it is in fact killing
curiosity so when you think about what
it is that makes it so difficult a lot
of it is just human fear you have to be
vulnerable to be curious you have to be
empathetic you have to actually look
people in the eye and speak to them
that’s how curiosity works that’s the
underpinning of it and I think that’s
that’s the greatest thing that we have
to accept and understand if we’re gonna
move our ideas for we have to realize
those limitations there’s a few
interesting things that I’ve seen
recently that are that are really
helpful in looking at this Warren Berger
wrote a book a more beautiful question
it’s it’s a stunningly insightful book
and one of the things in in his book
about questioning it’s about the
importance of framing questions and the
art of questioning but one of the things
that is noted in the book is Deborah
Deborah Myers study in the UK where they
came up with a detail that is really
mind-blowing the average four-year-old
girl asks 390 questions a day young boys
are not far behind that but that
statistic radically drops five six seven
eight years old once you enter the
school system it radically drops off a
lot of the reason that that happens is
because of the complexity of the school
systems not that there aren’t some
amazing teachers out there but you start
to get rewarded for the answers not the
questions so people start memorizing to
learn toward the answers and they lean
into answers and all of a sudden the
people that are trying to dig and
discover and be vulnerable
are really pushed to the side so it’s
it’s a really powerful book and and
definitely worth noting but it’s the art
of being curious it’s the art of asking
questions the other aspect is
vulnerability and and empathy as related
again to the digital context there’s
there’s another great piece that has
been done in some research that again
deals with physiological change Barbara
Frederickson research on our
relationship to our phones and there’s a
physiological shift that’s taking place
there our neural pathways are there’s a
plasticity to them and our relationship
to information and how we hide in these
pieces is physically changing us and
it’s it’s disconnecting much of how we
empathetically align through eye contact
and smell insight and breathing and
there’s so many subtle things that go on
that you lose when this happens it’s
actually effecting changes in our the
vagal tone is is the connection point
and it’s a really fascinating article
but literally our neural pathways are
changing which are compromising our
ability to be empathetically connected
because there’s so many subtle things
that go on so we’re getting lost in the
machine in a sense as we go forward you
know what I think about design and what
you know what can we learn from design
and and how why is curiosity at risk and
having having been fortunate enough to
work in a number of different different
scale situations and multiple
disciplines in design I’ve been able to
see inside many large scale companies as
well as many communities and cultures
around the world and how they work as
well as the education system and part of
the what’s what emerges is you see that
compression of time you see poor
decisions being made because of people
being forced to make decisions without
substantive depth
you see compromises in not only the
quality of the ideas but the depth and
the risk that comes with poor thought
through ideas and these aren’t just
communication ideas these are product
ideas it really runs runs through the
entire bloodstream and a lot of people
think well that’s a big public company
problem it isn’t at all because it
resonates into the private company
that reservation resonates into
education it really goes into our
communities the bloodstream completely
the whole ecosystem is affected by that
compression and I’ve seen cultures where
when that motivation happens toward
compressing the time and fear takes over
a culture I have literally seen
companies in one large meeting shift
from being a creative and innovative
culture to a culture managed by fear
literally in one day everything changes
and it is it’s that volatile and our
communities can be affected the same way
so in thinking about that we have to
realize there’s things to learn about
the design process protecting the
learning space be an advocate for time
and depth and study because I’ve also
seen moments of beauty where you know
you can talk to an engineer as an
example I’ve worked in snowboarding for
many many years you can talk to an
engineer about the engineered design of
the wood core of a board and what it is
designed to do with a side cut which is
really fascinating to hear and you can
understand it you can look it to science
you can look at the physics but it’s not
the same thing as being on a mountain in
the Andes with someone like Craig Kelly
and looking at him ride aboard and
hearing the sound when the flex of the
board and the torque changes its
relationship to the terrain that he’s on
that’s where you find truth and
connection and emotion and every sense
is in play how the light reflected on
the arc of the board it’s it’s getting
the opportunity to have those
connections versus just reading some
data on a screen so I’ve seen beauty in
it but also challenges in it so one of
the questions you probably have is like
you know we are in such a curious time
spycam Jake come on there’s there’s some
amazing things out there and and there
are you know when you look at some of
the people that are out in the world you
know any Leonard the executive director
of Greenpeace she created the story of
stuff series it’s all about curiosity
absolutely brilliant Elon Musk the the
mastermind of curiosity you know
hyperlink and/or Hyperloop and
everything that he’s he’s generating his
ideas and SpaceX it’s just absolutely
stunning every category
Jonathan Ives and what he’s doing at
Apple inside-out understanding
technology at the you know the deepest
curiosity levels you know Jane McGonigal
it’s another when you look at her work
in game design and how she
recontextualized game design and
gamification and brought it into
education that deals with cultural
issues and challenges another brilliant
and curious mind kendrick lamar what
he’s doing for social justice through
the music he’s creating the words he’s
writing and the images he’s making
absolutely incredible the depth of
curiosity of what he’s studying is is
really mind-blowing lee beautiful but my
concern is for the rest of us this is
those are beautiful and aspirational
anomalies in a way that found the
conditions for curiosity but this is me
in 1965 with my sort of curiosity hope
for where the what my role in the world
might be but it really is for the rest
of us how do we advocate for curiosity
in our educational systems how do we
advocate for curiosity in places like
this through channels and platforms like
this that’s what we need to protect
because if we’re not getting the
community and individuals and and people
engaged in curiosity we will not move
forward we certainly won’t move forward
with empathy and that’s where the
insights are so how might we save
curiosity is one of the big questions so
with all this once you understand the
challenge there’s there’s a couple of
things that that I’ve looked to and I’ve
been experimenting with to trying to
find a way forward so answering with
action is a big part of what needs to
happen you need to participate you need
to engage you need to look at physical
interactions look at experiential design
that is an essential part of it trying
to find intersections not unlike this
but physical intersections where you can
experience ideas you can experience
things with other people that’s an
important part of the the design of it
so it is a multi-sensory idea and don’t
run away and be afraid and
additionally just look up actually look
up look around look in people’s eyes and
connect and talk that’s one of the most
profound things you can do and I’ll I’ll
speak a little more about that in just a
moment so these are a couple of examples
of experiments that we’ve done so
solidarity of unbridled labor is a
design studio that is basically a social
sculpture it’s a living idea it’s an
absolutely transparent relationship
building kind of concept a new way of
designing with people we also are doing
work with development of an idea called
Iskra which is a educational silkscreen
studio it’s a nonprofit where we teach
people how to make art and get it
through the entire process and use Sur
ography to to print and then we help
them do a gallery show and express their
ideas but it’s a it’s something that’s
about interaction between every age
every every single aspect of society
comes into this space to learn and
create we’ve also created a cafe I’m a
firm believer that cafes can actually
change the world if I if I could go back
in time and be in cabaret voltaire when
you know the the whole distilled
movement happened that’s those moments
of interaction and multi-discipline
thinking are the most beautiful so we
have a cafe that also helps to to fuel
this thinking and then karma birdhouse
is a co-working space that has about 60
different groups in it it’s all about
intersections and actually they go into
the evening as well this is the same
space at night you need to create the
conditions where even underground music
scenes can emerge within a space where
there’s business going on and there’s
just cross fertilization of ideas that
needs to act like a super collider of
thinking and curiosity but you have to
create the conditions for those ideas to
happen and for those connections to
happen so how do you spark curiosity
like what it what is it for me one of
the things that’s that’s helpful is
Kipling’s poem if when he talks about
beginning your beginnings that’s a
lesson that I am reminded of often
because it’s a very simple doorway to
curiosity and I’m gonna tell you a quick
story and then offer a challenge
about 12 years ago I was at the Flynn
theater which isn’t far from here up in
Burlington and at the theater there was
the the performer that my son Eli and I
went to see he was 15 years old and we
were we were sitting in the audience the
performant came out and he was like this
six foot five character with crazy hair
and there was a there was a desk a glass
of water a chair for him and a second
chair and when he went out on the stage
he invited a young woman to come up to
the stage it was a ten year old girl
happen to be from Milton and she came up
on the stage and he basically
interviewed her he went on that evening
the entire idea was interviewing people
from the audience which he had just met
standing outside before the show and had
never really spoken him before other
than a few minutes outside that person
was Spalding Gray and Spalding Gray did
a national tour titled everyone is
interesting and he literally went around
the country and mesmerized people just
by sitting on a stage with a glass of
water and a desk talking to people he’d
never met before because he was
interested and that is the heart of
curiosity just saying hello so my
challenge to you is based on this idea
52 hellos there’s 52 weeks in every year
so every week do yourself the gift of
looking someone in the eye that you do
not know and say hello and be interested
ask them what they do why they do it why
they love it and continue the
conversation because that is the doorway
hello is the doorway to curiosity so I
would invite you to do that 52 times a
year and just see where that takes you
thank you
[Applause]
human beings we are these amazing
vessels that get thrust into the world
we show up here with multiple senses all
gathering information and it is just
it’s an incredibly beautiful and
awe-inspiring thing but one of the
things that I’ve been finding
interesting is that in this this moment
in time that’s so absolutely incredible
there’s sort of this devastatingly
ironic situation I think that we’re
faced with because when you look at you
know the accelerated exponential growth
of technology and Moore’s law just you
know showing disruption everywhere it’s
this moment where curiosity is
celebrated on many many levels but at
the site at the same time there’s kind
of a confluence of impact that’s going
on in our lives that is making a loss of
curiosity very real it’s becoming very
elusive for many people and community as
we’re trying to connect our communities
and cultures our curiosity is really
being pressed down and and eliminated
for many of us and that’s that’s really
where a lot of the future is is to be
had all our discoveries are found there
so what is it that makes curiosity so
important you know there’s a number of
things of course the discovery the
learning all of the the things that it
reveals for us it really pulls us all
forward as individuals as communities
it’s companies it’s really the train
that kind of pulls things ahead and our
thoughts are linked and and we build on
each other’s ideas and collaborations
but it’s also a press you know the
challenge that we have is it suppressed
by too much information too fast
the weight of that is actually causing a
holding back of thinking vulnerability
and empathy are being really really held
back but with happiness it does have a
role that is beyond just the discovery
side of things it’s also about happiness
when you’re curious and you’re learning
and you’re in the conditions that allow
you
to discover ideas and really explore
deeply and use all your senses you
actually are happier dopamine flows when
we’re happy there’s a physiological need
for curiosity and if we can move forward
with happiness as individuals that of
course resonates into community and
resonates further into cultural change
but this is what we need to try to hang
on to the the power of happiness and
curiosity is a big part of what it is
that we need to protect and that’s the
challenge that I want to speak about
today so what is it that’s killing
curiosity exactly as a designer I’ve
been able to work in a lot of different
communities and a lot of different
cultures and very fortunate to to be
part of the creative process in a number
of different directions but there’s a
couple of things that I’ve identified
that seem to be creating this this pain
to curiosity and the squelching of it
and they come in a couple of different
forms the expectation syndrome has
accelerated to an incredible pace as far
as our expectations of how technology
has developed how quickly it turns how
quickly products are created and move
forward and then that resonates into
people believing that decisions within
our communities and cultures and
connections should accelerate equally
fast so there’s an expectation that’s
set in motion that is nearly impossible
to meet and a lot of it happens further
upstream when investment is made and
return on investment is demanded that’s
a big part of where these expectations
come from and they’re often very
unrealistic expectations that creates
time compression so that brings
everything into question curiosity is
about depth of study about multi-sensory
experience and having the room for that
and there’s certainly a time compression
that’s happening that’s really pushing
people into situations where they’re
making surface based decisions they’re
not getting the chance to get as deep
into issues as they need to so time
compression is hurting everyone in the
process as well and then finally there’s
the digital delusion these these magic
little black mirrors that we all carry
we live in an age of wonder
absolutely but there’s a surface nature
to this it is not a multi-sensory
experience it is a very surface
experience
that we all appreciate the fact that we
can find the director’s name on that
film we can’t think of and that’s that’s
all really wonderful stuff and there’s
incredible depth there as well but when
we start replacing that kind of
information for thinking that’s real
experience that is a problem and we’re
living in a there’s a delusion that
we’re living and if we think that that
actually means experience that allows
you to empathetically connect with
individuals and each other and culture
to make really intelligent decisions and
come up with really beautiful ideas so
that’s that’s something that we really
need to think about is we’re living in
this age where there is a degree of a
delusion and it is in fact killing
curiosity so when you think about what
it is that makes it so difficult a lot
of it is just human fear you have to be
vulnerable to be curious you have to be
empathetic you have to actually look
people in the eye and speak to them
that’s how curiosity works that’s the
underpinning of it and I think that’s
that’s the greatest thing that we have
to accept and understand if we’re gonna
move our ideas for we have to realize
those limitations there’s a few
interesting things that I’ve seen
recently that are that are really
helpful in looking at this Warren Berger
wrote a book a more beautiful question
it’s it’s a stunningly insightful book
and one of the things in in his book
about questioning it’s about the
importance of framing questions and the
art of questioning but one of the things
that is noted in the book is Deborah
Deborah Myers study in the UK where they
came up with a detail that is really
mind-blowing the average four-year-old
girl asks 390 questions a day young boys
are not far behind that but that
statistic radically drops five six seven
eight years old once you enter the
school system it radically drops off a
lot of the reason that that happens is
because of the complexity of the school
systems not that there aren’t some
amazing teachers out there but you start
to get rewarded for the answers not the
questions so people start memorizing to
learn toward the answers and they lean
into answers and all of a sudden the
people that are trying to dig and
discover and be vulnerable
are really pushed to the side so it’s
it’s a really powerful book and and
definitely worth noting but it’s the art
of being curious it’s the art of asking
questions the other aspect is
vulnerability and and empathy as related
again to the digital context there’s
there’s another great piece that has
been done in some research that again
deals with physiological change Barbara
Frederickson research on our
relationship to our phones and there’s a
physiological shift that’s taking place
there our neural pathways are there’s a
plasticity to them and our relationship
to information and how we hide in these
pieces is physically changing us and
it’s it’s disconnecting much of how we
empathetically align through eye contact
and smell insight and breathing and
there’s so many subtle things that go on
that you lose when this happens it’s
actually effecting changes in our the
vagal tone is is the connection point
and it’s a really fascinating article
but literally our neural pathways are
changing which are compromising our
ability to be empathetically connected
because there’s so many subtle things
that go on so we’re getting lost in the
machine in a sense as we go forward you
know what I think about design and what
you know what can we learn from design
and and how why is curiosity at risk and
having having been fortunate enough to
work in a number of different different
scale situations and multiple
disciplines in design I’ve been able to
see inside many large scale companies as
well as many communities and cultures
around the world and how they work as
well as the education system and part of
the what’s what emerges is you see that
compression of time you see poor
decisions being made because of people
being forced to make decisions without
substantive depth
you see compromises in not only the
quality of the ideas but the depth and
the risk that comes with poor thought
through ideas and these aren’t just
communication ideas these are product
ideas it really runs runs through the
entire bloodstream and a lot of people
think well that’s a big public company
problem it isn’t at all because it
resonates into the private company
that reservation resonates into
education it really goes into our
communities the bloodstream completely
the whole ecosystem is affected by that
compression and I’ve seen cultures where
when that motivation happens toward
compressing the time and fear takes over
a culture I have literally seen
companies in one large meeting shift
from being a creative and innovative
culture to a culture managed by fear
literally in one day everything changes
and it is it’s that volatile and our
communities can be affected the same way
so in thinking about that we have to
realize there’s things to learn about
the design process protecting the
learning space be an advocate for time
and depth and study because I’ve also
seen moments of beauty where you know
you can talk to an engineer as an
example I’ve worked in snowboarding for
many many years you can talk to an
engineer about the engineered design of
the wood core of a board and what it is
designed to do with a side cut which is
really fascinating to hear and you can
understand it you can look it to science
you can look at the physics but it’s not
the same thing as being on a mountain in
the Andes with someone like Craig Kelly
and looking at him ride aboard and
hearing the sound when the flex of the
board and the torque changes its
relationship to the terrain that he’s on
that’s where you find truth and
connection and emotion and every sense
is in play how the light reflected on
the arc of the board it’s it’s getting
the opportunity to have those
connections versus just reading some
data on a screen so I’ve seen beauty in
it but also challenges in it so one of
the questions you probably have is like
you know we are in such a curious time
spycam Jake come on there’s there’s some
amazing things out there and and there
are you know when you look at some of
the people that are out in the world you
know any Leonard the executive director
of Greenpeace she created the story of
stuff series it’s all about curiosity
absolutely brilliant Elon Musk the the
mastermind of curiosity you know
hyperlink and/or Hyperloop and
everything that he’s he’s generating his
ideas and SpaceX it’s just absolutely
stunning every category
Jonathan Ives and what he’s doing at
Apple inside-out understanding
technology at the you know the deepest
curiosity levels you know Jane McGonigal
it’s another when you look at her work
in game design and how she
recontextualized game design and
gamification and brought it into
education that deals with cultural
issues and challenges another brilliant
and curious mind kendrick lamar what
he’s doing for social justice through
the music he’s creating the words he’s
writing and the images he’s making
absolutely incredible the depth of
curiosity of what he’s studying is is
really mind-blowing lee beautiful but my
concern is for the rest of us this is
those are beautiful and aspirational
anomalies in a way that found the
conditions for curiosity but this is me
in 1965 with my sort of curiosity hope
for where the what my role in the world
might be but it really is for the rest
of us how do we advocate for curiosity
in our educational systems how do we
advocate for curiosity in places like
this through channels and platforms like
this that’s what we need to protect
because if we’re not getting the
community and individuals and and people
engaged in curiosity we will not move
forward we certainly won’t move forward
with empathy and that’s where the
insights are so how might we save
curiosity is one of the big questions so
with all this once you understand the
challenge there’s there’s a couple of
things that that I’ve looked to and I’ve
been experimenting with to trying to
find a way forward so answering with
action is a big part of what needs to
happen you need to participate you need
to engage you need to look at physical
interactions look at experiential design
that is an essential part of it trying
to find intersections not unlike this
but physical intersections where you can
experience ideas you can experience
things with other people that’s an
important part of the the design of it
so it is a multi-sensory idea and don’t
run away and be afraid and
additionally just look up actually look
up look around look in people’s eyes and
connect and talk that’s one of the most
profound things you can do and I’ll I’ll
speak a little more about that in just a
moment so these are a couple of examples
of experiments that we’ve done so
solidarity of unbridled labor is a
design studio that is basically a social
sculpture it’s a living idea it’s an
absolutely transparent relationship
building kind of concept a new way of
designing with people we also are doing
work with development of an idea called
Iskra which is a educational silkscreen
studio it’s a nonprofit where we teach
people how to make art and get it
through the entire process and use Sur
ography to to print and then we help
them do a gallery show and express their
ideas but it’s a it’s something that’s
about interaction between every age
every every single aspect of society
comes into this space to learn and
create we’ve also created a cafe I’m a
firm believer that cafes can actually
change the world if I if I could go back
in time and be in cabaret voltaire when
you know the the whole distilled
movement happened that’s those moments
of interaction and multi-discipline
thinking are the most beautiful so we
have a cafe that also helps to to fuel
this thinking and then karma birdhouse
is a co-working space that has about 60
different groups in it it’s all about
intersections and actually they go into
the evening as well this is the same
space at night you need to create the
conditions where even underground music
scenes can emerge within a space where
there’s business going on and there’s
just cross fertilization of ideas that
needs to act like a super collider of
thinking and curiosity but you have to
create the conditions for those ideas to
happen and for those connections to
happen so how do you spark curiosity
like what it what is it for me one of
the things that’s that’s helpful is
Kipling’s poem if when he talks about
beginning your beginnings that’s a
lesson that I am reminded of often
because it’s a very simple doorway to
curiosity and I’m gonna tell you a quick
story and then offer a challenge
about 12 years ago I was at the Flynn
theater which isn’t far from here up in
Burlington and at the theater there was
the the performer that my son Eli and I
went to see he was 15 years old and we
were we were sitting in the audience the
performant came out and he was like this
six foot five character with crazy hair
and there was a there was a desk a glass
of water a chair for him and a second
chair and when he went out on the stage
he invited a young woman to come up to
the stage it was a ten year old girl
happen to be from Milton and she came up
on the stage and he basically
interviewed her he went on that evening
the entire idea was interviewing people
from the audience which he had just met
standing outside before the show and had
never really spoken him before other
than a few minutes outside that person
was Spalding Gray and Spalding Gray did
a national tour titled everyone is
interesting and he literally went around
the country and mesmerized people just
by sitting on a stage with a glass of
water and a desk talking to people he’d
never met before because he was
interested and that is the heart of
curiosity just saying hello so my
challenge to you is based on this idea
52 hellos there’s 52 weeks in every year
so every week do yourself the gift of
looking someone in the eye that you do
not know and say hello and be interested
ask them what they do why they do it why
they love it and continue the
conversation because that is the doorway
hello is the doorway to curiosity so I
would invite you to do that 52 times a
year and just see where that takes you
thank you
[Applause]
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