Choose to be Curious
Choose to be Curious is a show all about curiosity. We talk about research and theory, but mostly it's conversations about how curiosity shows up in work and life. Now syndicated and available via Pacifica RadioNetwork.
Episodes
June 4, 2025 • 28 mins
Here it is: the story of how this whole curiosity enterprise came to be and some of the many insights I’ve picked up along the way -- with a little timely bias for all things peace and conflict-transformation related.
For those of you who are new, this is how it all began! For those who have been around a while, here's the origin story, plus some of the challenges and glory of which you've been such an important part. I'm hoping t...
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May 27, 2025 • 28 mins
How might choosing to be curious help us keep the conversation open, hold onto history that's being erased, and find moments for celebration, even still?
Monique "Moe" Bryant was my teacher and guide when I took a course called Challenging Racism back in 2015-2016. I had her on the show twice then, once before and once after I'd taken the eye-opening, humble-making, nonetheless-empowering program.
Given where conversations about ...
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May 21, 2025 • 28 mins
I think of choosing to be curious as acting on the idea that there is opportunity in the unknown -- a very optimistic enterprise.
Kevin Kelly, a man of many passions and pursuits, is a self-described radical optimist.
So, what's to be found at the intersection of curiosity and choosing to be optimistic?
We explore how radical (and not utopian) this approach is; our moral obligation to create opportunity; embracing an abundance m...
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Today we dive into a tantalizing “kinesthetic framework for curiosity” a way of understanding how we move between ideas and bits of information.
Researcher Dale Zhou thinks of our curiosity as our search process in specific conditions. His research shows we’ve each got our own style — and that architecture can be mapped using knowledge networks.
Dale Zhou: https://www.dalezhou.com
Theme music by Sean Balick; “Step In Step Out” b...
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Educator Patty Gómez used a question formulation technique to cultivate a collaborative culture of curiosity at work.
Theme music by Sean Balick; “Entrance Shaft 11” by The Depot, via Blue Dot Sessions.
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April 30, 2025 • 28 mins
The World Peace Game is the brainchild of educator John Hunter. He describes it as “learning to live and work comfortably in the unknown.”
It's hard to imagine a more curiosity-centric undertaking.
A three-dimensional, hands-on political simulation, the World Peace Game explores the interconnectedness of the global community through economic, social, and environmental crises and the imminent threat of war. The goal is to extrica...
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April 23, 2025 • 28 mins
Menka Sanghvi and I feel our ways around noticing as the first step to caring, taking responsibility for where and how we direct our attention, attention activism and artistry, not accepting default settings, the essence of parenting, and why looking at the sky first thing in the morning is such a good idea.
Menka is a mindfulness and digital habits expert based in London. Her writing, speaking and many projects explore the relati...
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April 16, 2025 • 28 mins
XuanJun Gong is interested in media selection, computational modeling, communication networks, and information diffusion. He’s looked at how we choose media to manage our moods, how the sequence of our choices matters, and what draws us to that next book.
All of this is one version or another of the old curiosity conundrum: explore or exploit?
Do we seek novelty or leverage what we already know? Why? Does it get us what we want? ...
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April 9, 2025 • 28 mins
I have the good fortune of living in a place that values public art -- art that anyone can see at any time of night or day-- and that, with its very presence, invites just a little curiosity in a way that you might imagine would appeal to me.
So I was delighted when Tomora Wright Swann, Public Art Projects Manager of Arlington County (Va.) reached out -- and propelled me to connect with contributing artist Aurora Robson.
When I v...
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April 2, 2025 • 28 mins
I believe journalist, photographer and all-around producer Andy Isaacson has found ways to lean into his own curiosity, creating vehicles for the rest us to come along for the ride – in one case, literally.
For him a good day sparks his curiosity -- a thought that came to him for the first time in this conversation. (Hurrah for asking about what makes for a good days!)
We talk about why it's so important to meet people where they...
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March 26, 2025 • 28 mins
I see clear curiosity overtones in the ways we think about wisdom -- the meta-cognition processes of wisdom -- including intellectual humility, openness to others’ ideas and insights, even the search for constructive conflict resolution.
So I wondered: is anyone thinking about wisdom through a curiosity lens?
Igor Grossmann, Ph.D. leads the Wisdom and Culture Lab at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario. He’s passionate about ho...
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March 19, 2025 • 28 mins
Deep canvassing is built on listening, building rapport, staying in conversation -- sharing stories.
I don't know when I first became aware of deep canvassing as an organizing tool, but I was immediately taken with it as a curiosity enterprise.
Sulma Arias, executive director of People's Action and People's Action Institute, joins me to explore just what it is about this model that proves so transformative for everyone involved....
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March 12, 2025 • 28 mins
A family trip to the Pacific Northwest and the Salish Sea inspired my own curiosity about orca whales -- and that led, inevitably, to my curiosity about the orcas' own curiosity.
Lucky for me, I found my way to Sara Shimazu & Jeff Friedman, orca fans, whale watch captains, and co-hosts of After the Breach Podcast.
Theme music by Sean Balick; "Discovery Harbor" by Cloud Harbor, via Blue Dot Sessions.
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March 6, 2025 • 28 mins
According to the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia and its sister sites, people spent an estimated 2.9 billion hours reading English Wikipedia in 2024.
I wondered: What does it take to be a trustworthy repository for all that curiosity?
Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight has been a Wikipedia editor since 2007, and an administrator since 2009. With 100,000+ edits to her credit, she has created more than 4,000 ne...
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February 27, 2025 • 28 mins
Deanne Fitzpatrick is a virtuous rug hooker. Her art looks like the love child of wool and Vincent Van Gogh.
She looks for--and sees--fresh and beautiful things in the world around her, and she supports others in doing the same.
Deanne encourages the rest of us to lean into creating--beauty, community, and time for ourselves. And she has thoughts about how curiosity can help.
Find Deanne Fitzpatrick at: http://www.hookingrugs.c...
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February 20, 2025 • 28 mins
Psychologist Kimberley Wilson says we habitually consume a diet that is depriving our brains of nutrients -- and that has all sorts of consequences for our health and well-being.
She focuses on "psychology, mental health, food, and everything in between" and I wanted to know how curiosity might fit into that mix.
Find Kimberley Wilson: https://www.kimberleywilson.co
Theme music by Sean Balick; “Mind Body Mind" by Bodytonic, via ...
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February 13, 2025 • 28 mins
An experienced multi-lingual education specialist and organization leader, Loretta Goodwin is passionate about creating innovative, “anywhere/anytime” learning environments for young people, especially underserved youth.
She's also very curious about what AI offers her field -- and what it implies for all of us. So she undertook a 100-day learning journey.
Lucky for us, she's got wonderful insights to share. It's a fascinating c...
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February 6, 2025 • 28 mins
If you came across something that promises to offer students "evidence-driven, rigorously tested ideas that consider alternative perspectives" wouldn't you be interested?
Research shows that high school policy debate teaches students how to analyze, explore and understand the world around them, while it hones additional skills like research, critical thinking, and communication.
Sounds like a curiosity enterprise to me! Delighted...
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January 30, 2025 • 28 mins
Six years ago I sat down with Jacqueline Gottlieb, Ph.D., Professor of Neuroscience and Principal Investigator at Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute, the very first neuroscientist I’d ever interviewed.
It was a delightful and far-ranging conversation.
At some point she made a bold and quite tantalizing statement. “Curiosity," she said, "is going to take neuroscience to the next frontier.”
Today we check in on that asser...
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January 23, 2025 • 28 mins
How do you like to learn?
We all do it differently.
Argha Manna uses comics. Argha is a cancer researcher turned comics artist. He specializes in documenting the history of science and explores how knowledge is generated.
Find Argha Manna here: https://drawinghistoryofscience.wordpress.com
Theme music by Sean Balick; “Purple Light", Marble Run via Blue Dot Sessions.
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