Remake

Pia Mancini is a co-founder and CEO at Open Collective, a chair of the Democracy Earth Foundation, and a democracy activist who helped create the DemocracyOS platform and launched a Net Party in Argentina.

Her TED Talk, about upgrading democracy for the internet era, has exceeded a million views and helped reshape the conversation around the meeting place of democracy and the internet. She is a Y Combinator alum, a young global leader at the World Economic Forum, and she's also Roma's mum.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• Her journey from empowering citizens in the political process to empowering collectives to self-fund and self-govern
• Her vision for a more inclusive and expansive digital democracy
• The tension between idealism and the realities of life, politics, and system

We also discuss:

• How do we, as individuals, create a system and an environment that affects change?
• How can we use technology to upgrade democracy?
• How do we trust ourselves and each other?

There is no more important discussion, I believe, than how our new technologies should be used and woven into the fabric of our public life. And how to move from chaotic, even destructive populism, to a constructive model of participation and empowerment. My conversation with Pia is one of the most fascinating conversations, in an ongoing series of design conversations we've lined up for you on design for democracy, social change, and positive impact.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[2:48] Life During Covid

[10:26] Early Influences

[20:54] Upgrading Democracy

[30:23] DemocracyOS and Liquid Democracy

[38:07] The Dream of a Borderless and Equal World

[46:24] Net Party and the Clash with Reality

[53:33] Maintaining Hope and Motivation

[58:40] Building a New Narrative

[1:03:55] A Transition to an Open Collective

[1:21:14] A Sermon of Inspiration

EPISODE LINKS

• Pia's Links
  • 🌍 Open Collective
  • 🌍 TED Talk
  • 🌍 DemocracyOS
  • 🌍 Net Party (Partido de la Red)
  • 🌍 Pia Mancini Official Website
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @piamancini
  • 📺 YouTube Channel
• Other Links
  • 📕 Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
  • 📕 From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
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• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

Christian writes, speaks, and teaches on the practical application of the human sciences, latest as a Professor of Applied Humanities at The New School for social research. His work has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Der Spiegel, and Bloomberg Businessweek.

His latest book, Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm, was released in the spring of 2017 by Hachette Book Group, and is out in 16 languages.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• Growing up on a small island near Sweden.
• His work with Lego, helping them identify harmful, false assumptions around play and childhood.
• The critical value of the humanities in business, and why it's been overlooked for so long.
• The value of slowing down.
• His book, Sensemaking.
• His skepticism around AI, big data, and design thinking.
• And many other topics.

I'm a big believer in the power of the humanities, from anthropology to history, poetry to philosophy, to teach us critical tools and skills for the world of business. And I think this conversation will be eye-opening to many people.

It's one of a dozen or so weekly conversations we already have lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, best-selling authors, entrepreneurs, and impact investors who are working to change our world for the better. So follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app, or head over to remakepod.org to subscribe.

And now let's jump right in with Christian Madsbjerg.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[3:28] Life During Covid

[14:42] Early Childhood Observations

[16:27] A Path of Early Projects

[20:03] Rebuilding Lego

[27:28] Assumptions and Questions

[29:13] Introducing Humanities to the Business World

[34:38] Sensemaking and the Role of Humans vs Technology

[41:59] The Concept of the Human

[44:36] An Observation of Design Thinking

[49:10] How to Pay Attention

[51:08] H1B

[54:29] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• Christian's Links
  • 🌍 Christian Madsbjerg Official Website
  • 🏫 The New School
  • 🔬 ReD Associates
  • 📘 Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm
  • 📘 The Moment of Clarity: Using the Human Sciences to Solve Your Toughest Business Problems
  • 🎤 TED Talk
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
• Other Links
  • 🧱 LEGO
  • 👟 Adidas
  • 📕 Human Compatible by Stuart Russell
  • 📕 Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty
  • 📕 Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

Lynn Novick has been directing and producing landmark documentary films about American life and culture, history, politics, sports, art, architecture, literature, and music for more than 30 years. The 80 hours of acclaimed PBS programming she has created in collaboration with Ken Burns include The Vietnam War, Baseball, Jazz, Frank Lloyd Wright, The War, and Prohibition. These landmark series have garnered 19 Emmy nominations. Lynn herself has received Emmy, Peabody, and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards.

College behind Bars, Lynn's first film as a solo director, premiered at the New York Film Festival and aired on PBS in 2019. The four-part series immerses viewers in the inspiring and transformational journey of a small group of incarcerated men and women serving time for serious crimes, as they try to earn college degrees in one of the most rigorous prison education programs in America — the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI).

Lynn's latest series alongside Ken Burns, The U.S. and the Holocaust, explores the US knowledge of and responds to the Jewish Holocaust, the greatest humanitarian crisis of the twentieth century. It's now streaming on PBS and premiering later this month in Jerusalem.

We spoke at the end of August 2022, and I was excited to talk to Lynn after watching her remarkable College Behind Bars series. I watched the series after listening to an interview she did with Sam Harris on his podcast, and it really floored me. It proved so eloquently and so simply the basic truth — that crime and poverty are more often than not the result of lack — lack of opportunity, lack of access, lack of information, and lack of belonging.

It shows the transformative power of education, opportunity, respect, and high expectations, even on people convicted of violent crimes. And in that way it very subtly but powerfully condemns the system that doesn't provide such opportunities.

It was wonderful to chat with Lynn, learn about her life in documentary making, and hear about her experience behind the scenes making College Behind Bars and her continued engagement with the students in the film long after the filming.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• The US and the Holocaust documentary, and the antisemitism, xenophobia and nativism, and the rejection of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust.
• How the Watergate crisis led her down the path to documentary filmmaking.
• The power of documentaries to change views and bring truth to life.
• The films she made alongside Ken Burns covering the Vietnam War, jazz, the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and many others.
• Her film, College Behind Bars, and the process of making it.
• The Bard Prison Initiative and why it is so special.
• The history of prison and education.
• The power of education.
• History of crime and punishment in the US.
• And many other topics.

Lynn goes deep into topic after topic in American life, and as a result she's a broad and fascinating thinker and speaker. Beyond the incredible power of College Behind Bars, what stayed with me is the power of documentary film to start us thinking and talking about complex topics, and in some cases, like with College Behind Bars, to affect a change in policy.

This conversation is one a dozen or so weekly conversations we already have lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, authors, entrepreneurs, and activists who are working to change our world for the better. So follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app, or head over to RemakePod.org to subscribe.

And now, let's jump right in with Lynn Novick.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[5:52] Life in the Present

[7:17] The U.S. and the Holocaust

[14:55] History to the Masses

[18:28] Early Childhood Lessons

[21:47] A Journey to Film

[25:16] Frank Lloyd Wright

[28:27] Encapsulating America

[34:54] College Behind Bars

[40:00] The Bard Prison Initiative

[52:37] After Production

[54:19] Crime and Punishment in America

[1:01:35] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• Lynn's Links
  • 🎥 The U.S. and the Holocaust
  • 🎥 The Vietnam War
  • 🎥 Baseball: The Tenth Inning
  • 🎥 Frank Lloyd Wright
  • 🎥 Jazz
  • 🎥 The War
  • 🎥 College Behind Bars
  • 🎥 Prohibition
  • 🏛️ Smithsonian Institution
  • 📺 PBS: Public Broadcasting Service
  • 📺 Lynn Novick - PBS
  • 🌎 Lynn Novick - IMDb
  • 📣 Twitter: @LynnNovick
  • 📷 Instagram: @lynnnovick
• Other Links
  • 🌎 Ken Burns Website
  • 🌎 Sarah Botstein
  • 🎥 All the President's Men
  • 📰 The Washington Post
  • 🎥 The Statue of Liberty
  • 🎥 Huey Long
  • 🎥 The Civil War
  • 🌎 Buddy Squires-Florentine Films
  • 🌎 Geoffrey C. Ward
  • 🇺🇸 U.S. Senate
  • 🇺🇸 Supreme Court of the United States
  • 🏫 NYU
  • 🏫 Bard College
  • 🏫 Columbia University
  • 🌎 New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
  • 🎧 Sam Harris | Home of the Making Sense Podcast
  • 🎧 Lynn Novick Making Sense Interview
  • 🌎 Bard Prison Initiative (BPI)
  • 🏫 Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT
  • 🏫 Dartmouth
  • 🏫 Williams College
  • 🏫 Harvard University
  • 🇺🇸 United States Congress
  • 🌎 Open Society Foundations
  • 🇺🇸 Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
  • 📺 Emmy Awards
  • 🌎 Peabody Awards
  • 🌎 Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Awards
  • 🎥 New York Film Festival
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
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• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

Dr. Marilyn Paul is the author of It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys and An Oasis in Time: How a Day of Rest Can Save Your Life. She is the co-founder of Bridgeway Partners, a consulting firm dedicated to using systems thinking approaches to multi-sectoral and complex organizational challenges.

We spoke at the end of August 2022, and I was excited to talk to Marilyn since we've been introduced by her husband, former guest of the podcast, David Peter Stroh, and my discovery of her delightful book, An Oasis in Time. Avid listeners of the podcast would know that I am a designer by profession, but I've studied religious studies in my master's degree. I did this out of curiosity for the ways religions use design to create supportive frameworks for our lives, whether they are philosophical, social, institutional, or personal.

I've been especially fascinated by the way that religions design and structure time itself through ritual and community to produce valuable experiences. Meditation, pilgrimage, and the Jewish Sabbath are all examples of wonderful ways of structuring time. In fact, it was the Sabbath that opened the door to Buddhist meditation and spirituality in my own life, and Marilyn is the only person I know who wrote about it enthusiastically, pragmatically, and from an accessible secular perspective.

Her book is not just meant for Jewish people. It's a passionate defense and advocacy for the value of a weekly day of rest. A day intentionally and deeply separated from the mundane concerns of work, money, and achievement. And it's also a practical guide for how to set such a day up and embark on a journey of making it richer, more beautiful, more meaningful, and more social over time. The conversation was delightful and thought-provoking.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• What it was like to grow up with two therapist parents.
• Her early interest in climate change and how it shaped her choices.
• Suffering from what she calls chronic disorganization, and how she learned to tame chaos and to be more organized.
• The spirituality of organizing.
• The role of meditation in her journey.
• How she discovered the Sabbath and recognized its importance in her life.
• What the Sabbath has to do with gratefulness.
• How to remember who we are as human beings.
• And many other topics.

We live in a hectic, modern society, but I found that having a day of rest helps me stay sane and stable throughout it all, and helps me stay connected to my own values and to the present, even in the most stressful times. This conversation was a chance to enrich this day of rest. What stayed with me is Marilyn's call to make it richer, mark it more decisively, and enjoy great food and great company. It's a lifelong process, but I'm learning.

This conversation is one a dozen or so weekly conversations we already have lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, authors, and activists who are working to change our world for the better. So follow this podcast on your favorite podcasting app, or head over to RemakePod.org to find links to those apps and subscribe.

And now, let's jump right in with Dr. Marilyn Paul.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[5:18] Life in the Present

[6:45] Early Childhood Lessons

[10:34] An Interest in Climate

[11:45] Chronic Disorganization

[14:45] Taming Chaos

[17:42] The Rhythm of Organizing

[19:23] The Spirituality of Organizing

[22:39] Meditation

[25:13] Discovering Shabbat

[36:21] The Soul of Shabbat

[39:48] An Oasis in Time

[44:07] Designing Shabbat

[47:32] The Green Sabbath Project

[50:33] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• Marilyn's Links
  • 📘 It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys: The Seven Step Path to Becoming Truly Organized
  • 📘 An Oasis in Time: How a Day of Rest Can Save Your Life
  • 🏫 Yale University
  • 🌎 Bridgeway Partners
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @marilynbpaul
  • 📺 YouTube Channel
• Other Links
  • 📕 The Population Bomb by Paul R. Ehrlich
  • 📕 Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
  • 📕 Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chogyam Trungpa
  • 🎧 Amichai Lau-Lavie Interview
  • 🎧 David Peter Stroh Interview
  • ✝️ Princeton Theological Seminary
  • 🌎 Green Sabbath Project
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

Carissa Carter is the author of The Secret Language of Maps. She's a designer, geoscientist, and Academic Director at the Stanford d.school. Carissa drives the d.school's pedagogy and teaches courses on the intersection of data and design, design for climate change, maps, and the visual sorting of information, and she helped lead the d.school's seminal Stanford 2025 project on the future of higher education. She pursues projects at the crossover between design, science, and emerging technology.

We spoke in mid-August 2022, and I was looking forward to talking to Carissa since I got a hold of her book, The Secret Language of Maps, from the new Stanford d.school series of guides. Not only is the book beautifully designed and cleverly crafted, tracking a murder mystery through various maps and infographics, but it uses it to make great points about information, complexity, bias, and the role of the visual.

I have long thought that many of humanity's hardest problems seem so pernicious precisely because they're too complex to model and understand through words alone. And I think that modeling and conveying complex information visually allows us to use our complex visual cortex to decipher complex, nuanced, and dynamic systems in an infinitely better and more accurate way.

It was great to dive into some of these topics with Carissa, who had an interesting and unique journey to get to where she is today.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• Her 6:06pm tradition where she takes a picture at the same time every day, and the value of documenting our lives in this way.
• How she learned the value of prototyping at a very young age.
• What drew her to geology, and the relationship between geology and visualization.
• Her lateral move from geology to design and how that got her into designing maps.
• What is a map? Hint: It's broader than you think.
• The agenda of maps:
  • The bias of data selection.
  • The bias of interpreting data.
  • The inclusivity of maps.
• Why she says maps are made of a mix of data, craft, and bias.
• A map of a world in proportion to the number of sheep in each country.
• The book, The Secret Language of Maps, and what made her write it.
• And many other topics.

I think what stayed with me most is the incredible richness and craft that goes into making the best maps. The myriad creative and tactical choices that have to be made, and what these choices say about us, our values, and our intentions.

This conversation is one a dozen or so weekly conversations we already have lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, authors, entrepreneurs, and activists who are working to change our world for the better. So follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app, or head over to RemakePod.org to subscribe.

And now, let's jump right in with Carissa Carter.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[4:23] Life in the Present

[5:50] 6:06

[10:19] Early Childhood Prototyping

[14:07] Studying Geology

[16:37] A Journey from Geology to Design

[21:04] The Secret Language of Maps

[22:43] What is a Map?

[31:55] Data, Craft, and Bias

[38:42] An Idealized Future

[39:51] I Love Algorithms

[43:21] Rep is a Magazine

[45:22] An Awkwardness Enthusiast

[49:13] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• Carissa's Links
  • 🌎 Carissa Carter Website
  • 📘 The Secret Language of Maps: How to Tell Visual Stories with Data
  • 🏫 Stanford University
  • 🏫 Stanford d.school
  • 📕 Stanford d.school - Books
  • 🌎 Stanford 2025
  • 🃏 I Love Algorithms - Stanford d.school
  • 🌎 Rep
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @snowflyzone
  • 📺 YouTube Channel
• Other Links
  • 🌎 BlackBerry
  • 🌎 United States Geological Survey (USGS)
  • 📣 Twitter
  • 🌎 Mona Chalabi Website
  • 🌎 Siri - Apple
  • 🌎 Google Voice
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
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• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

Ashish Goel is the author of Drawing on Courage: Risks Worth Taking and Stands Worth Making. It's a part of a series of guides being published by the Stanford d.school. Ashish is a designer, an entrepreneur, and a former teaching fellow at the Stanford d.school where he has taught classes on design thinking, digital product design, and mapmaking.

Previously, he worked as head of design at Zomato (India's DoorDash and Yelp rolled into one), and today advises companies in the art and science of product design, and is currently building Boca, a direct-to-consumer sparkling water business based in India.

We spoke in early August 2022, and I was excited to talk to Ashish because his book, Drawing on Courage, reminded me how important having courage and taking a stand are in the creative process.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• Covid, and losing his mother to Covid.
• Being inspired by the resilience of the world during Covid.
• Growing up wanting to be a comic book designer.
• His experience at the d.school, learning to be brave and creative.
• The writing of his book, Drawing on Courage.
• Using design thinking to deal with rejection.
• Fear versus love as motivation.
• Change as part of the journey of courage.
• Using our gut to make decisions.
• The future of higher education.
• And the importance of beauty in decision-making.

Ashish reminds us that the creative act can be scary. That facing the blank page or the blank whiteboard does not come easily to most, and that that leap of faith is worth making, and is in fact essential in every creative endeavor.

This conversation is one of many weekly conversations we already have lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, authors, and entrepreneurs who are working to change our world for the better. I just received a couple of new books from the Stanford d.school, and we're working on setting up those interviews as well — they include the books, Creative Hustle, This is a Prototype, and You Need a Manifesto. So if you want to hear these, and the other episodes we've got for you, please follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app, or head over to RemakePod.org to subscribe.

And now, let's jump right in with Ashish Goel.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[4:03] Life in the Present

[4:48] Life During COVID

[11:07] Early Childhood Driving Forces

[13:29] A Pivot to Design

[16:01] The Stanford d.school

[19:06] Drawing on Courage

[22:33] Couraging With Design

[25:20] Taking a Tiny Risk

[29:31] Courage and Values

[32:41] The Role of Change

[34:26] The Role of Beauty

[37:20] The Future of Learning

[42:13] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• Ashish's Links
  • 📘 Drawing on Courage: Risks Worth Taking and Stands Worth Making
  • 🏫 Stanford University
  • 🏫 Stanford d.school
  • 📕 Stanford d.school - Books
  • 🥤 Boca
  • 🚚 Blinkit
  • 🚚 Zomato
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @ashpodel
• Other Links
  • 📕 Creative Hustle by Olatunde Sobomehin and Sam Seidel
  • 📕 This Is a Prototype by Scott Witthoft
  • 📕 You Need a Manifesto by Charlotte Burgess-Auburn
  • 🚚 DoorDash
  • 🌎 Yelp
  • 📞 WhatsApp
  • 🌎 CafePress
  • 🌎 Zazzle
  • 📷 Adobe Photoshop
  • 🎮 Super Mario
  • 🌎 The Gap by Ira Glass
  • 📷 Ruby Elliot Instagram
  • 🎧 Irene Au Interview
  • 🌎 Google
  • 🌎 Yahoo!
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

John Maeda is an American technologist and product experience leader with a passion for RESILIENCE and renewal. He began his early career at MIT at the intersection of computer science and visual design, and served there as Professor of Design and Computation and as Head of Research at the MIT MediaLab. He was a design partner at Kleiner Perkins, held leadership positions with Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, and served as president of the Rhode Island School of Design. He is currently serving as Chief Technology Officer of Everbridge.

John has been described by The New York Times as "an anomaly in the art world — a prize-winning graphic designer and kinetic artist with a fistful of engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology". He has also been recognized by Esquire as one of the "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century", and his gorgeous design in tech and resilience in tech reports are a beloved annual ritual for many.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• How he started his journey working at his parents' tofu shop in Seattle.
• Getting his first Apple computer.
• Why his mother was his first VC.
• The difference between good and bad teachers.
• His journey from engineering school at MIT to art school.
• The need for creatives to understand money, and how money works.
• Teaching at the famous MIT MediaLab.
• And growing the people that will end up destroying you professionally.

We also discuss:

• Being a "humanist technologist" and what it means.
• Issues of complexity and simplicity.
• Why he's quoted as saying, "Design is not that important".
• Is design useful and in what way?
• How to speak machine.
• And many other topics.

We spoke in late July 2022, and I was excited to talk to John because he's a prolific and fascinating author, teacher, and communicator in the realm of design. I loved his design and tech reports while in Kleiner Perkins and enjoyed his voice on Twitter.

John made many good points about complexity and simplicity, the role of a good teacher, and much more. But what stayed with me is his vision of the computer as a new alien species. And the importance of seeing technology with fresh and wondering eyes. It's only in this way that we can understand the radical newness of what we're living through.

This conversation is one of a dozen or so weekly conversations we already have lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, authors, and entrepreneurs who are working to change our world for the better. So follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app, or head over to RemakePod.org to subscribe.

And now, let's jump right in with John Maeda.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[4:38] Life in the Present

[5:45] Early Childhood Design

[8:53] An Interest in Engineering

[11:03] An Academic Journey

[17:46] Building Startups

[20:30] A Humanist Technologist

[28:23] Simplicity and Complexity

[33:04] Understanding Design

[41:56] How to Speak Machine

[50:34] How to Speak Risk

[54:48] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• John's Links
  • 🌎 MAEDASTUDIO - John Maeda Website
  • 🌎 John Maeda Blog
  • 🏫 Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT
  • 🏫 MIT Media Lab
  • 📘 Design by Numbers
  • 📘 Maeda@Media
  • 📘 Creative Code
  • 📘 The Laws of Simplicity
  • 📘 Redesigning Leadership
  • 📘 How to Speak Machine: Computational Thinking for the Rest of Us
  • 🌎 Resilience Tech Report
  • 🌎 Design in Tech Report
  • 🌎 Everbridge
  • 🎤 TED Talks
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @johnmaeda
  • 📺 YouTube Channel
• Other Links
  •  Apple
  • ✈️ Boeing
  • 💻 Microsoft
  • 📦 Amazon.com
  • 🏫 MIT Press
  • 🌎 The Nobel Prize
  • 🌎 The Nobel Peace Prize
  • 📣 Twitter
  • 🌎 Fast Company
  • 💰 Intuit
  • 🎵 David Bowie
  • 🛋️ Salone del Mobile
  • 🗣️ Facebook
  • 🏫 Carnegie Mellon University - CMU
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
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Chris Dancy is known as "the Most Connected Man on Earth". Chris is a TED speaker and the author of Don't Unplug: How Technology Saved My Life and Can Save Yours Too. He was featured on Showtime's Dark Net, the cover of Businessweek, and interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, NPR, the BBC, Fox News, and Wired.

Chris entered the public dialogue concerning digital health as the media started to focus on wearable technology. He earned his "Most Connected" moniker by utilizing up to 700 sensors, devices, applications, and services to track, analyze, and optimize his life, from his caloric intake to his spiritual well-being. This quantification enabled him to see the connections of otherwise invisible data, resulting in dramatic upgrades to his health, productivity, and quality of life.

Today, he's a noted keynote speaker and executive workshop retreat facilitator, and guides organizations and audiences on a journey — a disruptive, breathtaking journey — into the future of computing, when behavior becomes the ultimate interface.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• How he used technology to gain a measure of control and process childhood trauma.
• How he found his way into self-tracking, and became the world's Most Connected Man.
• What it means to be connected at all times, with over 700 devices and services tracking every behavior and activity into a personal database.
• Why he believes recording our personal histories is worth doing.
• How he categorizes activities and makes sense of them.
• What he discovered from looking at this trove of data.
• The outsized importance of sufficient light, pleasant soundscapes, and rest.
• Receipts as a spiritual instrument.
• And his version of technopaganism, bringing ancient rituals and modern technology together.

This conversation is one of a dozen or so weekly conversations we already have lined up for you with hackers, designers, thinkers, authors, entrepreneurs, and activists who are working to change our world for the better. So follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app, or head over to RemakePod.org to subscribe.

And now, let's jump right in with Chris Dancy.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[4:40] Life in the Present

[7:51] Early Childhood Trauma

[10:37] A Means of Escape

[13:11] A Journey to "Most Connected"

[18:12] Collections of Data

[22:43] An Inventory of the System

[25:41] The Value of Tracking

[28:16] The Value of Perspective

[30:33] The Importance of Small Things

[38:33] Don't Unplug

[42:25] The Optimization Game

[47:06] What is Technopaganism?

[51:00] Adopted Rituals

[56:44] A Short Sermon on Death

EPISODE LINKS

• Chris' Links
  • 🌎 Chris Dancy Website
  • 📘 Don't Unplug: How Technology Saved My Life and Can Save Yours Too
  • ✍️ Chris Dancy - Medium
  • 🌎 Village of Fonda, NY
  • 🎤 TED Talk
  • 📷 Instagram: Instagram Profile
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @chrisdancy
  • 📺 YouTube Channel
• Other Links
  • 📺 Dark Net
  • 🌎 Google
  • 🌎 Oracle Database
  • 📅 Google Calendar
  • 🎵 Michael Jackson Official Site
  • ✍️ Grammarly
  • 📹 YouTube
  • 🌎 Google Earth
  • 🕑 Freedom
  • 🕑 RescueTime
  • ☀️ George Carlin - The Sun Worshipper
  • 🌎 Miro
  • 🌎 Scrum
  • 🌎 Wikipedia
  • 🌎 The Habit Store
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

Vicki Tan is a Product Designer, a public speaker, a student of Behavioral Psychology, and a dog mom based in Brooklyn. She currently works at Spotify, and has previously worked at Headspace, Lyft, and Google. She cares deeply about the human aspects of design, and the insights that data cannot provide. In her spare time, she's working on an illustrated book on cognitive bias.

We spoke in mid-July 2022, and I was excited to talk to Vicki because she's been at the center of designing some really delightful digital experiences in Headspace, Lyft, and Spotify, and has given interesting talks on the complex interactions of data, logic, and creativity.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• How Vicki got into design by forging notes for school.
• Studying Behavioral Psychology, and using that lens in design.
• Her early work in psychological research.
• How she found her way into Google.
• The importance of cognitive ability in hiring practices.
• The unique culture at Headspace.
• The challenges of designing a meditation app.
• The role of intuition in design and our overreliance on data.
• What finding umami means to her.
• Her book in the works on cognitive bias.
• Self-coherence as a way to help our own cognitive bias.
• And dreams as a blueprint for reality.

One of my favorite things about being a product designer is meeting other product designers. There is something about the open-mindedness, mindfulness, optimism, and interdisciplinary interests that seem to be a recurring pattern and which make the best product designers a real delight to talk to. And Vicki is no different.

This conversation is one of a dozen or so weekly conversations we already have lined up for you with top designers, thinkers, makers, authors, and activists who are working to change our world for the better. So please follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app, or head over to RemakePod.org to subscribe.

And now, let's jump right in with Vicki Tan.

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[4:18] Life in the Present

[8:35] Childhood Rebellion

[12:17] A Journey to Behavioral Psychology

[15:15] A Career Path

[19:02] Hiring Decision Factors

[21:38] A Pivot to Designer

[25:35] Lyft, Headspace, and Spotify

[29:25] The Culture at Headspace

[37:04] Designing With Intuition

[40:23] Finding Umami

[47:52] Gentle Chaos

[56:47] Cognitive Bias

[1:05:20] A Short Sermon

EPISODE LINKS

• Vicki's Links
  • 🌎 Vicki Tan Website
  • ✍️ Vicki Tan – Medium
  • 🌎 Google
  • 🚗 Lyft
  • 🧘 Headspace
  • 🎧 Spotify
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @vickiheart
• Other Links
  •  Apple
  • 💻 HP®
  • 📷 Adobe Photoshop
  • 💻 Microsoft
  • ☕ Folgers® Coffee
  • 🏰 Disneyland®
  • 🌎 Adobe Illustrator
  • 🌎 Keynote
  • ❤️ Hinge
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Matt Ridley: When Ideas Have Sex
  • 📕 The Book of Hard Truths: 16 Facts of Life We Should Learn to Accept by Eran Dror
  • 📕 Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp
  • 🎥 TikTok
  • 📷 Instagram
  • 🎤 TED Talk - Alain de Botton: Atheism 2.0

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium

TODAY'S GUEST

For the last decade, Dr. Angel Acosta has worked to bridge the fields of leadership, social justice, and mindfulness. He completed his doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University.

After participating in the Mind and Life Institute's Academy for Contemplative Leadership, Angel began consulting and developing learning experiences that weave leadership development with conversations about inequality and healing; including as part of the 400 Years of Inequality Project, based at the New School.

Angel continues to consult for organizations like the NYC Department of Education, UNICEF, Columbia University and others.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we discuss:

[2:57] Being with the world of Covid, elections, and chaos.

[7:27] Angel growing up with the value of hard work and strong work ethics, instilled by his family.

[10:57] Moving around a lot in early life, changing schools, and learning how to connect with new people.

[14:15] Getting into anthropology.

[18:20] From anthropology to leadership studies.

[19:45] Working on expanding opportunities in education.

[27:40] Growing interest in mindfulness and healing practices.

[36:12] Angel's research, looking at the connection of healing practices with racial literacy and racial justice education.

[52:03] About white participants in the group staying committed despite their discomfort, and showing up.

[56:10] The 400 Years of Inequality Project.

[1:07:05] The future of trauma healing.

[1:11:02] Designing for equity, and overcoming old systems designed out of racism and prejudice.

EPISODE LINKS

• Dr. Angel Acosta's Links
  • 🌍 DrAngelAcosta.com
  • 🎧 NYC Healing Collective Podcast
  • 📣 Twitter: @drangelacosta
  • 📺 Videos: Angel's Videos
  • 🌍 College for Every Student (CFES)
  • 🌍 400 Years of Inequality
• Other Links
  • 🌍 Creative Reaction Lab
  • 🌍 Thich Nhat Hanh
  • 🌍 Lani Guinier
  • 🌍 Resmaa Menakem
  • 🌍 Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams
  • 🌍 Thomas Hübl
  • 📕 Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James W. Loewen

ABOUT US

• Remake Podcast: Visit us: RemakePod.org
  • 🙏🏻 Rate the show on iTunes
  • 🙏🏻 Support us! Join the Podcast Member community
  • 💌 Share your thoughts: [email protected]
  • 👉 Listen or Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts・Google Podcasts・RadioPublic・Overcast・Stitcher・PocketCasts・Castro・SoundCloud・Spotify・YouTube・Deezer
• Remake Labs: RemakeLabs.com・Medium・LinkedIn・Community・Twitter・Facebook・Instagram
• Eran Dror: EranDror.com・LinkedIn・Twitter・Medium