The Future Belongs to the Courageously Curious | Doug Burgum | TEDxFargo
Learning to ask good questions is the necessary skill for thriving in an age of information abundance, which is better than relying on the old systems built around scarcity. The speaker proposes parents instill this curiosity in children by making it a daily ritual of asking about the best questions asked that day. This shift requires challenging norms around achievement (grades/behavior) and instead focusing on intellectual inquiry to foster empathy and improve society. ## Speakers & Context - Unnamed speaker delivering a talk on the importance of curiosity in an information-saturated world. - The speaker describes a personal family ritual established when dropping off children at school. ## Theses & Positions - The current era represents a profound shift due to universal access to information, rendering the old system based on information scarcity obsolete. - A working society can no longer be built on the old, rigid idea of scarcity; instead, it must rely on the ability of every person to keep asking the right questions. - True education and societal advancement depend on developing curiosity, which expands empathy and reduces misunderstanding beyond simple stereotypes. - The capacity for great curiosity requires great courage and trains individuals to listen without judgment. ## Concepts & Definitions - **Information Scarcity Model:** The historical system where information was rare, gated, and valuable, leading to structures built around professions, titles, and pay. - **Information Abundance:** The current state where all the world's information is accessible to everyone, exemplified by the smartphone. - **Curiosity:** The core skill required in the modern age, described as a deep and natural human trait. - **Ritual:** The specific family habit established of asking about the "best question asked today." ## Mechanisms & Processes - **The Questioning Habit:** A mechanism to instill curiosity by consistently asking: "What was the best question you asked today?" to children and adults. - **Empathy Expansion:** Curiosity drives understanding of *why* people behave, moving beyond soundbites and stereotypes to grasp the underlying drivers of beliefs. - **Societal Development:** Shifting focus from metrics of achievement (grades, behavior) to the quality of questions asked allows for societal evolution. ## Timeline & Sequence - **Millennia:** Period during which institutions were designed around the idea that information was scarce and gated. - **Nearly 20 years ago:** Time when the speaker began implementing the family ritual of questioning at school drop-offs. - **Today:** The current era characterized by universal, abundant information access. ## Named Entities - **School of Ins:** Name of an educational institution mentioned in relation to the family's routine. ## Numbers & Data - The smartphone era is described as having a connection system that is *still 140 years old*. - The secret implementing knowledge is described as **free** and taking **less than one minute a day**. - The shift to abundance is linked to an increase in **energy** and **food** leading to low prices. ## Examples & Cases - **The smartphone:** A device connecting people to all world information, despite its underlying system being 140 years old. - **Family Ritual:** Asking children/friends/adults, "What was the best question you asked today?" - **Historical Dependence:** How professions, societies, titles, and pay were built upon the concept that "a rare few would have the information." - **Evidence of Abundance:** The experience of low prices, despite historical predictions that the world would run out of food and energy. ## Tools, Tech & Products - **The phone/smartphone:** The primary device connecting to global information. ## References Cited - None. ## Trade-offs & Alternatives - **Old Model (Scarcity):** Information = Value $\rightarrow$ Gatekeeping $\rightarrow$ Structures (Education/Law/Medicine). - **New Model (Abundance):** Information is everywhere $\rightarrow$ Value = Ability to ask the right questions $\rightarrow$ Personal Capacity. - **Focus Shift:** Prioritizing *what* is asked over *what* is achieved (grades/behavior). ## Counterarguments & Caveats - The speaker must admit that their ability to articulate *why* storytelling was important was difficult. (Self-correction/development of thought). ## Methodology - The core methodology proposed is **Intentional Questioning**: A daily, low-effort habit of identifying and discussing the best question asked within that day. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - The future belongs to the curious people willing to keep asking questions. - Actionable recommendation: Intentionally ask your kids, partner, and friends (and elders) "What was the best question you asked today?" for under one minute daily. - Final challenge: Ask the speaker this question to themselves before bed. ## Implications & Consequences - Continuing to believe that money solves societal ills is flawed, given decades of proof. - Courageous curiosity leads to better listening and deep understanding of others' perspectives. - Failure to adopt this skill keeps society trapped in outdated, scarcity-based frameworks. ## Verbatim Moments - *"if you could improve your life the lives of your family your friends and your coworkers with a simple little secret would you be curious enough to learn what that is"* - *"we still call by a name that's modified but it's still a name that's 140 years old"* - *"it's more tied to the ability of every one of us to keep asking the right questions in a world of abundant information"* - *"the question that we would ask our children was not in the in the parting comments getting out of the car it wasn't about it wasn't about hey get good grades and it wasn't about hey be sure you behave"* - *"what was the best question that you asked today at school what was the best question you asked today"* - *"great curiosity takes great courage"* - *"listen without judgment"* - *"what was the best question i asked today"*