John Cleese - A Lecture on Creativity…and The Number of People it Takes to Fix a Lightbulb
A old and inspirational gem on what makes us creative as told by British comedian John Cleese.
(via thenextweb)
“Thinking Cities”
A short film that discusses how cities will impact global change. It features several interesting city projects taking place across the globe.
From co.exist
“There’s an enormous realization of the importance of cities. That is true for business, it’s true for government, it’s true for civil society.” So says one of the speakers inThinking Cities (made by Ericsson as part of their Networked Society series), which you can watch above. As Geoffrey West, a scientist who studies cities, notes in the film, cities are the cause of many of the world’s problems, but are also hubs of innovation that are going to drive the solutions.
Thinking Cities features thought leaders like West, a physicist and professor at Santa Fe Institute; Mathieu Lefevre of New Cities Foundation; and Carlo Ratti, Director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab speaking on what the city means for the future while we take a tour of some of the most innovative smart city projects—from tracking trash to tagging potholes—that are going on in the world today.
Take a look. As one city evangelist says: “The city’s role is to make as easy as possible for people … to live in a smart and sustainable way.” They also tend to make their residents happier. For these and countless other reasons enumerated in the video, cities are the living area of the future. Now it’s time to make them worth the hype.
Researchers in London are “rethinking the radiator,” as you can see from the prototype above. They’ve taken the radiator off of the wall and simulated a campfire-esque way of enjoying heat during the cold winter months. Eco-friendly, easy on the eyes, and a new use for an “old” thing. It’s an aesthetically pleasing innovation, sparked by looking at something in a new and different way.
The Vision Thing: Warby Parker’s David Gilboa Disrupted An Industry And Improved The World’s Sight
(via fastcompany)
In Tokyo, a deaf couple has designed their home with almost a hundred windows so that they can sign to their children even while they’re outside. It’s innovation and design rolled into one, in order to solve a unique problem.
(via kateoplis)
Infectious Courage
*Each Monday, Prophet’s Chief Curator and Provocateur, Andy Stefanovich, shares a Monday on-ramp with Prophet employees across the globe. We’ll begin sharing them here, and encourage you to join the conversation by answering questions and providing your own comments below. Happy Monday!
Not long ago, to say an ulcer was caused by anything other than stress was akin to saying the Earth was round during the Middle Ages. And two doctors from Perth Australia, Doctors Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, were doing just that - trying to convince the medical establishment that the bacterium helicobacter pylori, not stress, caused ulcers.
Dr. Marshall was so determined to change the accepted dogma, that he actually drank a mixture that contained the bacteria. Days later he was sick with severe stomach inflammation. “I didn’t actually develop an ulcer, but I did prove that a healthy person could be infected by these bacteria.”
Dr. Marshall’s courage, and that of his colleague Dr. Warren, was validated in 2005 when they earned the Nobel Prize in medicine. Courage is the volition and ability to act on your beliefs in the face of opposition. (That’s Marshall on the right, celebrating with Warren after the announcement of their Nobel Peace Prize for Medicine.) So what can we learn from Marshall and Warren?
Stand by Your Convictions.
Find courage in the higher order benefits of fulfilling your vision. “We felt it was important to act…people died from ulcers all over the place; and to test our idea, you just needed to take some antibiotics. So we weren’t very ashamed about getting our message out,” said Dr. Marshall.
Model Courageous Behavior.
Dr. Marshall characterized himself as someone with the courage to asks questions and challenge assumptions. “I guess all my life I’ve made my own decisions. My mother was a nurse, and in her era, most diseases weren’t understood; people rubbed camphor on your chest if you had a cough. She used to be annoyed with me because I would challenge everything she said…unless someone could show me the facts.”
Find Leverage Points.
The courage to support a vision takes time and energy. A way to maintain that energy is finding allies within “the system.” “When you start off with a new idea, all your scientific pals set out to prove you wrong. That’s the scientific process. Part of [the change in attitude among peers] had to do with Dr. David Graham, chief of medicine at Baylor, and a thought leader in gastroenterology. He started off as a real skeptic but quickly turned around. To his credit, Graham never said I was wrong. He said, “I don’t know, and I’m going to find out.”
Today, thanks to the courage of Dr. Marshall and Warren, the debilitating pain of chronic ulcers can be treated with a relatively simple regimen of antibiotics. How far would you be willing to go for something you believe in?
Where do good ideas come from? As author Steven Johnson says in the above clip, it’s a question almost everyone is interested in. Is the “screen addiction” epidemic hampering or helping our creativity? It’s an intriguing question.
Forming part of the Music Boxes exhibition at MediaCityUK for the Manchester International Festival, Maestro was developed using Microsoft Kinect technologies and lets the audience control the tempo and dynamic of the orchestra using nothing but their hands, just like a conductor.
Using razor sharp HD video and 3D surround sound, the audience are given an immersive and fun opportunity to conduct the famous orchestra.
The concept and initial prototype was first created by the BBC R&D team who partnered with magneticNorth to develop the user experience, design and technical solution.
How Good Is The U.S. At Innovating?
GE surveyed 1,000 business executives from around the world about the state of innovation in their countries. (The article also links to a downloadable ppt of their study)
(thanks Cindy)
Paper Record Player
a brilliantly unique use of materials.
