I wish Scott Barry Kaufman had been my college professor. Scott gives extra credit for daydreaming in his classes. That would have been an easy A for a space case like me.

Scott is the scientific director of The Imagination Institute in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. The Imagination Institute's mission is to "make progress on the measurement, growth, and improvement of imagination across all sectors of society." One of the ways it’s doing this is by conducting retreats with different groups of people, such as educators, evolutionary psychologists, standup comedians, and futurists, to learn how they use their imaginations in their work.

In May 2016, I participated in The Imagination Institute’s two day “futurists retreat,” held at Institute for the Future's Palo Alto headquarters. This interview with Scott took place on the morning of the second day of the retreat.