Choose to be Curious

British journalist Rajan Datar turns the curiosity lens on our travels.

As host of Travel That Made Me, a podcast about the psychology of travel and the experiences that shape us, he’s interviewed everyone from musicians to Nobel laureates and war correspondents.

He asks: how has travel shaped who you are?

Travel That Made Me: https://travelthatmademe.substack.com

Theme music by Sean Balick. “UpUpUp and Over” by The Balloonist, via Blue Dot Sessions.

After Dinner Conversation publishes monthly collections of short stories that explore ethical dilemmas and philosophical questions. Each issue includes curated discussion prompts designed to inspire debate and introspection. It's what you might call food for the morally curious.

Kolby Granville is founder and editor-in-chief of After Dinner Conversation: https://www.afterdinnerconversation.com

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Reflectors" by Ray Catcher, via  Blue Dot Sessions.

Dialogic interpretation is a visitor-centered participatory approach that invites those visitors to engage in two-way conversation where they and the interpreter ask questions. Using dialogic interpretation, staff at President Lincoln's Cottage help people see questions that unfolded in this modest house more than 150 years ago carry forward into our lives today.

President Lincoln's Cottage: https://www.lincolncottage.org

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Over the Fence” by Delray, via  Blue Dot Sessions.

Cottage photo by Brian Rimm, used with permission.

Diego Carneiro is a Brazilian-born cellist. He’s had a wide and wonderful musical career, including performance, conducting and composition. But what makes him special is his role as an ambassador of peace and the arts – opening both ears and hearts through the bigness of his own.

Diego Carneiro/Friends of Music in the Americas: https://www.fomita.org

Cello performed by Diego Carneiro; Amazonian Elegy

Photograph and author Stephen Collector’s career has been an exercise in curiosity and sustained attention. A lifetime of being outside, looking closely at landscapes, animals, and people, noticing what others walk past.

Stephen Collector: https://www.stephencollector.com

Theme music by Sean Balick. “Idle Way" by Duck Lake, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Biomimicry is “the conscious emulation of nature’s genius.” What might we learn by attending to nature's solutions? Sara Aly El Sayed, Director of the Biomimicry Center at Arizona State University, has thoughts!

Biomimicry Center: https://globalfutures.asu.edu/biomimicry-center/

Theme music by Sean Balick; “A Palace of Cedar” by The Pine Barrens, via Blue Dot Sessions.

When I wanted to think about curiosity in communications and PR – in the professional work of finding effective ways to tell our stories to one another, under all sorts of circumstances – I knew Greg Abel was the guy to talk to.

Greg Abel: https://www.abelcommunications.com

Theme music by Sean Balick. “Town Market” by Onesuch Village, via via Blue Dot Sessions.

What might choosing to be curious about the unthinkable offer? Davyne Dial is general manager at WPVM radio in Asheville, NC. Hurricane Helene taught her we should all be more curious about the very things we don't want to think about.

WPVM 103.7, Radio Asheville: https://wpvmfm.org

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Well Water" by The Bulwark, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Be honest: how often do you reflexively defer to AI?

What if that same system told you it had some uncertainty about its answers? What would be different, and why?

Author and journalist Maggie Jackson and I dig into what happens when we shuffle the certainty deck and reinsert unsureness in AI, our interactions with it, and our own thinking.

Can we protect our future and own humanity by choosing to be curious -- by choosing to be uncertain?

Maggie Jackson: https://www.maggie-jackson.com

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Jog to the Water" by Duck Lake, via Blue Dot Sessions.

The Yale Center for Civic Thought is dedicated to encouraging thoughtful public discourse and civically responsible intellectual life by helping students practice disagreement, curiosity, and thinking without the pressure to perform.

Stephanie Almeida Nevin is executive director of the Center for Civic Thought: https://civicthought.yale.edu

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Tuck and Point” by Onesuch Village, via Blue Dot Sessions.