CURIOUS AF

Last week I mentioned that my latest book project has evolved into SEARCH TERMS. The way we seek out and engage with information isn’t just a function of our personalities or even a symptom of our bias –it’s how we change our minds and our patterns of behavior to become a fuller expression of who we are. When we challenge ourselves to think about new ideas, in new ways, from new perspectives, we grow and improve. But what exactly does that look like in practice? This week, I’m sharing an exam...

Let’s play a game. Before you read on, have another look at the title of this week’s newsletter. Can you guess what a Greek myth and a band from the 1970s might have in common with fig trees? I was looking into how fig trees mineralize CO2 (more on that below) when I found myself humming an ELO song from my youth, so I opened a browser and typed: Turn to stone. Even though much of the World Wide Web has been polluted by self-interest and automated content, it is still the ultimate treasure tr...

You and I and every other global citizen can make tomorrow better than today by remembering that we need each other. Everything we learned, we learned from a mediated experience, usually with the help of someone else. Our mentors created those experiences by investing time, energy, and often money. We need to recommit to the importance of what we learn in those connections between people, ideas, and our experiences, because together we can accomplish things that we can’t by ourselves. (Like m...

A few days ago, organizers estimated that about five million Americans gathered in the public spaces of > 2000 cities and towns for the No Kings/Dictators/Tyrants protests. In conversations this week with colleagues and clients from Argentina to Israel, Canada, Hong Kong, and even a suburb of Los Angeles, I mentioned the protests – and everyone was interested in hearing more because they hadn’t seen it covered in the media. Open-Source Learning is yours. Free. Get the white paper here People t..

(Sorry for taking last week off. Someone exploded a car bomb nearby that shook my house and my psyche, and I responded by driving two hours away to run a half-marathon I hadn’t trained for. Today I’m making good on the technology note I promised a couple weeks ago, and including some other stuff I’d jotted down, as well as some newer stuff from the last few days, so this week’s edition is kind of a two-for-one Frankennewsletter that is stuffed with very non-AI, human goodness. Don’t thank me ...

In 1941, Swiss engineer Georges de Mestral took his dog for a walk. At some point, de Mestral became fascinated with the burrs that stuck to his dog’s fur. Nature is cool. The burrs had adapted to hitch a ride. De Mestral was more concerned with the “how” than the “why” of the situation, and he examined the burrs under a microscope. He studied the burrs for the next FOURTEEN YEARS before he was able to duplicate their tiny hook and loop design and introduce it to the world. De Mestral combine...

You’ve probably heard the old saying: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” That idea was popularized by Harry S. Truman, who may have gotten it from a general or a judge. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect a president, general, or judge to say. It’s a challenge. A dare to rise to the occasion. Toughen up. To many people, that’s what it means to be an American. A man. An adult. Open-Source Learning is yours. Free.Get the white paper hereIt’s easy to see why the saying has en...

Last week I spoke to my local chapter of Rotary. I love Rotarians. Consistently over the decades, whenever and wherever I’ve met them, whatever they do for a living, however young or old they are or whatever they look like, Rotarians are some of the most good-natured, civic-minded people around. (Or at least they act that way, which is good enough for me.) As I always do, I asked my audience: “What makes you curious? What do you really want to learn?” Over the years, I’ve gotten used to recei...