Forwarding the Conversation

In this TED Talk Ben Schwartz delves into what got us into this current economic crisis and gives us some suggestions on how we may find our way out of it. Here are some questions to think about as you watch this talk:

• Does your organization give you the flexibility to be wise?
• How – if at all – can government play a role in creating wise citizens?
• What does ‘practical  wisdom’ mean in your life?

In this TEDTalk author Elizabeth Gilbert takes a new look at genius and creativity. As you watch this video think about the following question:

• How do you relate to your own personal genius?
• Where does your inspiration come from?
• How can you alter the relationship with your genius?

This TedTalk – by Sherwin Nuland – is a meditation on hope.

“A man, to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in the place of another and of many others; the pains and pleasure of his species must become his own.” – Percy Shelley

Answer: In this Ted Talk Ken Robinson argues that schools designed with the purpose of educating children for an industrial economy prioritize certain types of learning over others. This prioritization means that certain skills, capacities, etc that a child may have are either de-valued or stigmatized. So yes, in many ways schools – as they exist today – can kill creativity.

Another anecdote that may provide interesting context to this video. During my year in the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs I conducted a series of interviews (close to 30) with various stakeholders in the area of education. The purpose of these interviews was to determine ‘what was missing?’ from St. Louis’ collective conversation about education. What I found is that – in all but two interviews – the interviewee did not speak about what was in the best interest of the students until we were 45 minutes into our session. My questions were broad and open-ended, and I neither attempted to steer my interview subjects in that or another direction – I simply allowed them to go where they pleased. 

Everyone says that they care about the issue of education. All individuals who work in the field of education say – when asked – that their primary concerns are with the students. What is missing from this picture?

Hope that everyone had a great holiday! Now it’s time to get back to work – both in the office and out. Today, I wanted to post a Ted Talk that I found particularly fascinating. This talk given by – Stephen Strogatz (a mathematician) – explores how things in nature have a tendency to sync up. For me, this drives the following questions:

• How can we – as human beings – use this tendency to sync in the realms of society, culture, and politics?
• If biological synchronization is based on self-preservation – how can we use this idea as a benefit to the entire world?

This is just amazing – check out www.sciencecommons.org this site is serving as an open source repository for the world’s science information. This type of project just boggles my mind especially since this was no already happening. The possibilities for something like this are endless: giving individual scientists the knowledge to build upon the research of others and innovate in new ways!!! My mind almost hurts from excitement!

Here is a brief video that describes Science Commons.

Watch this video about the Charter for Compassion and read the description below. You can help write the charter for compassion by going to the link provided above or in the description below.

By recognizing that the Golden Rule is fundamental to all world religions, the Charter for Compassion can inspire people to think differently about religion. This Charter is being created in a collaborative project by people from all over the world. It will be completed in 2009. Use this site to offer language you’d like to see included. Or inspire others by sharing your own story of compassion.

This is one of the most important posts on this blog. Please take a look.

In this TedTalk psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the difference between liberals and conservatives. One quote that he draws on here is from Buddhist Zen Master Sent-ts’an who says:

If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between “for” and “against” is the mind’s worst disease.

Haidt argues that through moral psychology that we can all learn to step outside of our “moral matrix” which will allow for a more productive and civil society.  Watch the video and ask yourself the following questions

1. How is Haidt’s argument playing out in the 2008 election?
2. How do you take this way of seeing the world onto a battlefield that uses morality as a wedge?
3. What are you for and what are you against? How do you feel about those who oppose you?

In this TedTalk Noah Feldman argues that both religion and politics are a form of technology. Since this talk took place around the beginning of the Iraq war it provides an interesting perspective now, in 2008. As you watch this think about some of the following questions:

• Barack Obama is not a muslim. Why do people who think he is a Muslim find that somethnig that would disqualify him from being President?
• Where do people get these types of beliefs? How does our society find a way to permit such beliefs?
• What does this talk mean in 2008? How is it different from what it meant in 2003?

This TedTalk features Doris Kearns Goodwin, a Presidential historian, who talks to us about how we can look into the stories of the past as a way to see into the future. Listen to her stories and think about the lessons that apply to everyday life and to the elections of 2008.