I posted two whiteboard videos towards the end of last year – audio lectures on fascinating subjects combined with quirky, fun illustrations of the innovative concepts being discussed that unfold in real time while you watch, see here and here. These simple but compelling pieces are perfect examples of how sisomo works.
The website of the 254-year-old Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce in the U.K. (RSA) has smartly reinvented itself as a platform for “21st Century Enlightenment,” with its whiteboard and other videos of “talks”, the category invented, or rather resurrected, by TED in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
The RSA has reenergized its program with cool features like the whiteboard video series, called RSAnimate. I already wrote about Ken Robinson’s lecture on “Changing Education Paradigms”, but I was also blown away by the previous installment in the series, RSA CEO Matthew Taylor’s talk on what 21st century enlightenment means.
Taylor’s main point is that today’s many challenges require us to think differently and that means embracing a new, “self-aware, socially-embedded model of autonomy”. His model urges us to incorporate recent insights into human behavior and look at our reactions to events without being captive to them, which will help us extend the reach of empathy and create a more collaborative, sustainable world. Still with us?
What I really like about Taylor’s position is its emphasis on qualities of the Age of Now. In the 21st century, we need to accept and adapt to constant change without losing sight of our commitments to each other and the earth itself.
Another RSA video features writer Kathryn Schulz on “Being Wrong”. Schulz makes the case for error as a key driver of ultimate success and breakthrough and offers this insight as central to any vision of 21st century enlightenment.
Add the RSA to your bookmarks – it’s become at least a weekly must-see, along with TED and BigThink. Below are additional selections worth checking out:
- Economist Paul Ormerod on Public Policy and the Power of Networks
- Futurist Dr. Ian Goldin on Africa 2050: Will Africa Claim the 21st Century
- Nobel Prize-winning Economist Amartya Sen on Reducing Injustice
- Adam Kahane on Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change
- Philip Zimbardo on the Secret Powers of Time
