Paola Antonelli on Design as the Interface Between Progress and Humanity

Paola Antonelli — Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at the MoMA, longtime proponent of humanized technology, self-described “curious octopus” — has arguably done more for the mainstream infiltration of design literacy than any other individual in contemporary culture. In her recent opening keynote at the unequivocally titled media and ideas conference The Conference in Malmö, Sweden, Antonelli pulls the curtain on her curatorial process and, with her signature on-stage charisma, takes a revealing look at how her shows go about the incredible balancing act of being both beacons of the bleeding edge of design and an approachable education platform for instilling in the general public a basic understanding of the fundamental importance of design — something she describes as “push[ing] design down from the realm of art and up from the realm of decoration and prettification into real life.”

via openculture.com

Andrew Zuckerman: On Curiosity, Rigor, and Learning As You Go

In this 99% talk, photographer Andrew Zuckerman argues that curiosity is an essential part of the creative's condition. But it's even more powerful when combined with rigorous technique.

In this 99% talk, photographer and filmmaker Andrew Zuckerman argues that curiosity is an essential part of the creative's condition. But it's even more powerful when combined with rigorous technique. He shares the lessons learned from his iconic WISDOM project, in which he interviewed "elders" around the world, including Chuck Close, Bill Withers, Jane Goodall, Frank Gehry, Massimo Vignelli, and many more. Zuckerman talks about the anxiety we feel as we start a new project, how fear can help us get things done, and the importance of honesty and good, old-fashioned hard work.

Creativity Top 5: August 29, 2011

via creativity-online.com

Here's to the crazy ones.

On The Creating And Sharing Of Awe

By @jason_silva and @NotThisBody - Follow us on twitter! Our other videos: Beginning of Infinity - http://vimeo.com/29938326 To Understand Is To Perceive Patterns - http://vimeo.com/34182381 Imagination - http://vimeo.com/34902950 Abundance - http://vimeo.com/34984088 Ecstasy is the experience of becoming "epiphanized" by rapturous AWE. As described in Rich Doyle's Darwin's Pharmacy, "...a sense of interior and exterior dissolves in awareness and awe." "...there is an upwelling of fresh insight coupled with a feeling of ubiquitous harmony," in the experience. The vision -- which i hasten to point out, is neither "religious" nor "otherworldly" -- feels like a"startling recognition." "Christopher Uhl reminds us that "while gazing 'up' at a night sky, one in fact hangs off the planet and near the edge of a galaxy, vertiginous, suspended over the infinity of space." - Rich Doyle, Darwin's Pharmacy "As you lie there feeling yourself hovering within this gravitational bond while peering down at the billions of stars drifting in the infinite chasm of space, you will have entered an experience of the universe that is not just human and not just biological. You will have entered a relationship from a galactic perspective, becoming for a moment a part of the Milky Way galaxy, experiencing what it is like to be the Milky Way galaxy." - Cosmologist Brian Swimme Astronomer Rebecca Elson wrote in A Responsibility to Awe that: "Sometimes as an antidote To fear of death, I eat the stars." The Imaginary Foundation says that "to understand is to perceive patterns" and this is exactly what all great thinkers have done throughout the ages: they have provided a larger, dot-connecting, aerial view of things that subsumes the previous paradigm. As Richard Metzger has written: "What great minds have done throughout history is provide an aerial view of things... Consider now how the evolving notions of a flat earth, Copernican astronomy and Einsteinian physics have subsequently changed how mankind sees its place in the cosmos, continuously updating the past explanations with something superior." Philosopher Charles Baudelaire was fond of hosting "hashish parties" where members of the intelligentsia could become inspired and elicit a very affective 'rhapsodic oratory'... essentially "having a download". "People completely unsuited for word-play will improvise an endless string of puns and wholly improbable idea relationships fit to outdo the ablest masters of this preposterous craft...", wrote Baudelaire... "Every difficult question that presents a point of contention for theologians, and brings despair to thoughtful men, becomes clear and transparent. Every contradiction is reconciled. Man has surpassed the gods." The goal of this video is to epiphanize you. Works by the following artist were incorporated /vimeo profiles/ /beeple /clemento /csisman /flight404 /genki /mato /zfilms

 Jason Silva is a media personality, documentary filmmaker, futurist and fellow at the Hybrid Reality Institute, where he is looking at human/technology co-evolution. He has been a host and producer for Current TV for the last 4 years and is obsessed with understanding inspiration and awe.

via thecreatorsproject.com

On the future of Apple

The last test of genius is its longevity. But in thinking about what comes next, it's remarkable to note how young Apple's new celebrity is. The iPod is only ten years old. A child born on the day the iPhone debuted in 2007 wouldn't yet be in kindergarten. A child born on the day the iPad debuted in 2010 might not be walking.

Still, great companies occasionally flat-line. Microsoft had the largest market cap in history in 2000 and its stock hasn't increased over the last ten years. GE's has declined. But Jobs leaves his company surprisingly well positioned. Even as the first or second most valuable company in the world, Apple's price-earnings ratio is normal to low. Its products are too superior, its potential in overseas market too big, and the global mobile tech space too fecund for Apple to face imminent decline.

Predicting what comes next is prophecy. Suffice it to say that having reinvented the personal computer, music business, phone, and personal computer (again), Steve Jobs has demonstrated and re-demonstrated his genius for us. In return, we wish him well.

via Steve Jobs: The Edison of Our Time and the Future of Apple by Derek Thompsom, theatlantic.com