From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I do believe there's something fundamentally essential about free play—the open-ended combination of elements not confined by a narrow context. This concept is vital not only to humanity but to life itself. Consider Johan Huizinga, the sociologist and anthropologist who, in his book 'Homo Ludens,' famously argued that play is a necessary precondition for culture. I find this perspective accurate.
At its core lies a universal crisis of legitimacy of the state, and that crisis means many countries will evolve Fourth Generation war on their soil. America, with a closed political system and a poisonous ideology of multiculturalism, is a prime candidate for the home-grown variety of Fourth Generation war.
The first and most important part of tackling mental health challenges is to drive cultural change. If you don't change the culture around mental health- people will continue to be stigmatised, people will continue to stay silent, people will not seek the help they need.
Throughout most of the world and for most of human history, music making was as natural an activity as breathing and walking, and everyone participated.
What's the business hip hop of this post pandemic world? Who's going to be the Rapper's Delight of the post pandemic world?
In order to build a truly powerful brand, you can't just sell a product. You need a brand that is authentic and resonates deeply with your fans. The reason we've been able to amass so many followers around the world in such a short period of time is that they aren't just consuming a product; they're finding meaning in it.
It's not just the internet which is contributing to these changes, its mobile and digital technology generally, it makes everyone a journalist. This is why the internet has blown apart the notion of journalism, because it gets rid of the gatekeepers.
The brains of our ancestor Homo sapiens were the same as our brains. How to draw, how to write, how to think, have all been learned, sometimes with great difficulty, and the learning has been passed on.
One of the things I love most about my job is the diversity in the pace of work across the organization. I truly enjoy being with people from different parts of the world and working with individuals who operate on completely different approaches.
As far back as we know, humans have spent a lot of energy making what I call 'pointless, precious things.' Archaeologists recently uncovered a life-size sculpture of a bison, 14,000 years old, in a cave in France. That must have taken real effort by people likely living a Palaeolithic lifestyle. That's part of why we've been so dominant on this planet.
It's become synonymous with clothing but ultimately fashion is anything popular in a culture at any given time.
I went from having no parents, to having 65! For kids, it was fantastic, there were lots of activities, a very strong community, and everyone cared for each other.