THE KONGQUEST

Great article from the Boston Globe about how “grit” may be a better indicator of success than IQ testing. I have recently been trying to pare down my interests and focus on strengthening my current set of skills. It takes persistence and passion for a singular stated goal to be successful and impressive in life. I remember my parents telling me as a kid that it doesn’t matter how smart you are, you can succeed at anything if you work hard at it. I guess it’s about time they have scientific research on this. Have a quick read for yourself:

The truth about grit - The Boston Globe

This video made an impact in my life today. Watch it:

Wow. This is a great video inciting people to action on changing the way education is done in our country. We all have a duty as citizens to take action for our shared better future. I love the quote she cites in the speech:

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed. - Thomas Jefferson

Watch the video:

Interesting. Jay Walker says that English is the world’s second language. English is the common language to solve the world’s common problems. I’m not too sure about the mania part of his speech because English has been put into adoption by many countries for a long time but he makes a good point that English is the default bridge between many people from different regions of the world. Having this common communication channel is key to moving forward as a world community.

That is predicted in this Scientific American article on the way robots are being programmed to learn from experience. This is pretty exciting and potentially scary news. If today a robot is capable of learning at the rate of a 2 year old, what happens when it’s learning ability surpasses the lifetime capabilities of human beings?

Link: Can Robots Be Programmed to Learn from Their Own Experiences?

Many people these days go through the whole education process and come out with jobs they hate. At the end, they wonder why life has taken them down this path. Ken Robinson brings up a good point that schools were once created and geared towards industrialism. Today, this system is antiquated and does not fully cater to the multiple facets of a productive human life. Watch the video to learn more!

I just watched this great video on the history of American Chinese food. It traces back the origins of how the fortune cookie isn’t actually of Chinese decent and who the real General Tsao is and who made the General Tsao’s chicken. Interesting stuff for those who want to be in the know.

This is a great video on the basics of storytelling:

Tony Robbins is one crazy guy. He’s got a great amount of charisma and lots of great things to say about human mentality. I’ll be writing some notes up on some of his teachings. Watch this video to get a taste of what he’s about:

Image via CrunchBase

As adults, we naturally fear the judgement of our peers. When we were kids, we were not embarassed by the things we did or the ideas that we told other people. We could go about and play as we wanted in our imaginary worlds. To exclaim to everyone what exactly was on our minds. Over time, we all learn to be insecure about those fictitious ideas and lose the freedom to take risks.

For most adults, I believe it is difficult to bring back a childish mentality for playfulness and creativity. Tim Brown tells the story of the powerful link between creativity and play. Tim Brown is the CEO of Ideo, which is one of the leading firms on innovation and design. He proposed that creative companies design their workplaces to allow their employees to relax and have fun in efforts to produce great ideas. He says in his talk that those that are best at creative ideas are those who can “unconsciously surrender themselves to the experience.” I found it really interesting that he made the point that friendship is the shortcut to play because of trust. Playfulness leads to creative solutions in an enjoyable way.

In summary, here are the three main bullet points about Play from Tim’s talk at TED:

1. Exploration - lots of ideas - go for quantity

2. Building - think with your hands, learning by doing, prototype

3. Role Play - act it out, working with interaction scripts to test for authenticity and empathy

Play is not anarchy. Play has rules. Players negotiate the rules.