Tech, Innovation & Society - The Creative Process: Technology, AI, Software, Future, Economy, Science, Engineering & Robotics

The Creative Process
  • 4.9 (22)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Rethinking tomorrow. We focus on technology, innovation, society, AI, science, engineering, the economy & issues facing people & the planet. Leading thinkers, organizations & environmentalists discuss technology, creativity & pathways for a more sustainable future. Exploring the fascinating minds of creative people. Conversations with writers, artists & creative thinkers across the Arts & STEM. We discuss their life, work & artistic practice. Winners of Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Pulitzer, leaders & public figures share real experiences & offer valuable insights. Notable guests and participating museums and organizations include: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Neil Patrick Harris, Smithsonian, Roxane Gay, Musée Picasso, EARTHDAY.ORG, Neil Gaiman, UNESCO, Joyce Carol Oates, Mark Seliger, Acropolis Museum, Hilary Mantel, Songwriters Hall of Fame, George Saunders, The New Museum, Lemony Snicket, Pritzker Architecture Prize, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Galleries, Joe Mantegna, PETA, Greenpeace, EPA, Morgan Library & Museum, and many others. The interviews are hosted by founder and creative educator Mia Funk with the participation of students, universities, and collaborators from around the world. These conversations are also part of our traveling exhibition.
www.onplanetpodcast.org www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org
 Interviews conducted by artist, activist, and educator Mia Funk with the participation of students and universities around the world. INSTAGRAM @creativeprocesspodcast
 INSTAGRAM @oneplanetpodcast

  1. Game Over: Metrics, Big Data & Why We Need to Stop Keeping Score w/ C. THI NGUYEN - Highlights

    15H AGO

    Game Over: Metrics, Big Data & Why We Need to Stop Keeping Score w/ C. THI NGUYEN - Highlights

    "To be in the process of making things, to be in the process of talking to people about what things mean. The creative process is actually, I think, the most meaningful part of life, but it's very hard to measure. When we get shoved towards a world that demands easy measurables, it's very hard to optimize away from the creative process and optimize towards things that are more static." On this episode of The Creative Process, philosopher C. Thi Nguyen joins us to discuss his new book, The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game. He unpacks the profound concept of "value capture"—the moment we stop caring about the rich, subtle experiences of life and start obsessing over simplified, external metrics like grades, likes, and screen time. Beyond the trap of quantification, C. Thi Nguyen explores the liberating power of games and art. We discuss how true play requires us to step lightly between different rule sets, the difference between art and craft, and how reclaiming our creative process might just be the ultimate meaning of life. (0:00) THE TRAP OF VALUE CAPTURE How external metrics and scoring systems hijack our personal values and creativity (7:09) THE LOGIC OF QUANTIFICATION Why simple numbers travel well but strip away vital human context, from screen time to grades (11:58) THE MAGIC CIRCLE OF PLAY Understanding the difference between a gamified life and the true, disattached beauty of struggle (14:57) ART, CRAFT, AND METRICS Why taking the hard way leads to genuine creative expression, and how to spot value-laden systems (19:34) THE POLITICS OF MEASUREMENT Questioning the assumption that complex human traits, like IQ or consciousness, can be quantified on a single scale (21:31) THE SPIRIT OF PLAY Using constraints to boost collaborative storytelling and learning to step lightly between different rule worlds Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

  2.  The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game with C. THI NGUYEN

    15H AGO

     The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game with C. THI NGUYEN

    We live in a world obsessed with tracking. From our sleep scores to our social media engagement, invisible systems constantly quantify our worth. But when we replace our deepest values with these thin, easily measurable numbers, we lose a part of our humanity. It is time to step outside the magic circle of optimization and reclaim the unstructured joy of being alive.  C. Thi Nguyen is a philosopher whose work gets to the heart of the invisible structures that define modern life. He first established himself as a food writer, exploring the sensory world, before turning his intellectual gaze toward the philosophy of games and agency. He’s the author of Games: Agency As Art. His new book is The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game. He argues that when we simplify our values for the sake of a leaderboard, something inside the human spirit begins to die. In it, he explores a concept called "value capture"—the moment we stop caring about the experience and start obsessing over the metric. He joins me now to discuss how we can lead a playful, spontaneous life without getting lost in the scoring systems of the 21st century. (0:00) THE MEANING OF LIFE IS THE CREATIVE PROCESS Why the most valuable parts of life are impossible to measure (6:46) VALUE CAPTURE DEFINED How external metrics and institutional scoring systems take over our personal values (11:38) THE METRICS WE LIVE BY The invisible toll of screen time, credit scores, and daily optimization (19:44) THE LOGIC OF QUANTIFICATION Why simple numbers travel well but strip away vital human context (24:13) THE MAGIC CIRCLE OF PLAY Understanding the difference between a gamified life and the true beauty of struggle (31:56) ART AS A GAME How taking the hard way and avoiding efficiency leads to genuine creative expression (38:48) THE POLITICS OF TECHNOLOGY Why tools and systems like factories and databases are never truly value-neutral (44:23) AI AND HUMAN CREATIVITY Navigating the tension between automated efficiency and expressive human art (50:44) THE POLITICS OF IQ Questioning the assumption that complex human traits can be measured on a single scale (1:01:12) NARRATIVE SCAFFOLDING How structured constraints in role-playing games can actually boost collaborative storytelling (1:10:00) THE SPIRIT OF PLAY Stepping lightly between different rule worlds and reclaiming our agency Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod @creativeprocesspodcast

    1h 12m
  3. Beyond the Plagiarism Machine: Reclaiming Imagination from AI Slurry w/ AL KENNEDY

    MAR 3

    Beyond the Plagiarism Machine: Reclaiming Imagination from AI Slurry w/ AL KENNEDY

    "The thing that puzzled him was why people don't agree to be fully expressed while they're alive. Why does it only happen in their last moment? Why wouldn't you live being fully expressed?" My guest today is AL Kennedy. She is one of Britain’s most acclaimed and versatile literary voices, a writer who can inhabit the internal life of a soldier in a POW camp, as she did in her Costa Book Award-winning novel Day, as easily as she can navigate the "professional lying" of a modern civil servant. Her latest novel, Alive in the Merciful Country, takes place during the 2020 lockdown. It tells the story of a primary school teacher who receives a confession from an undercover police officer who infiltrated her life decades earlier. It’s a provocative investigation into state power, the "Spy Cops" scandal and the search for mercy in an age of surveillance. It’s a book about the breakdown of trust. We talk about her life, her activism, and why she believes fiction is the only way to tell the truth when the facts are forbidden and how she balances the truth of her novels with the relief of stand-up comedy. (0:00) Finding Your Voice On the Alfred Wolfsohn voice method and the power of being fully expressed (2:30) Reading from Alive in the Merciful Country Kennedy shares a passage from her latest novel, exploring hope and resilience in dark times. (4:43) The Myth of Shrinking Attention Spans Challenging the narrative that modern audiences cannot focus, and the importance of engaging storytelling. (6:22) Education and the Foundation of Democracy The dangers of dismantling education and how critical thinking protects us from fascism. (10:26) The Spy Cop Scandal and State Surveillance Unpacking the reality of undercover police infiltrating peaceful protests and intimate lives. (13:59) Lockdown: A Global Pause and the Inrush of Empathy The fleeting moment of unified humanity during the pandemic and how it was ultimately betrayed. (17:34) Writing Without Theft: The Ethics of Character Creation Kennedy explains her imaginative process and why she refuses to steal details from real people's lives. (28:16) AI, Digital Slop, and the Loss of Trust Reflections on artificial intelligence as an unstable plagiarism machine and its impact on truth. (30:03) Nature, Spirituality, and the Merciful Country Finding healing in the natural world and navigating the future with love and awareness. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    34 min
  4. SIRI HUSTVEDT on Love, Grief, AI, Creativity & the Future of Humanity

    FEB 23

    SIRI HUSTVEDT on Love, Grief, AI, Creativity & the Future of Humanity

    “Grief happens because you don't stop loving the person who died. The person doesn't exist in your reality anymore. The everyday is not colored and shaped by this other human being, but you don't stop loving the person. So grief is a particular kind of unrequited love. And probably without that dynamic relationship with this person, I would be someone else. And he would've been someone else. I mean, Paul died before me. But we were, I think, hugely important to the drama of becoming in our own lives.” Today, we are honored to welcome a writer whose work has long explored the intimate landscapes of the mind, memory and the heart. Siri Hustvedt’s writing moves between the personal and the philosophical, the literary and the deeply human. Her work bridges collections of essays, non-fiction, poetry, and seven novels, including the international bestsellers What I Loved and The Summer Without Men. Recipient of the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature and the Gabarron Prize for Thought, her work has been translated into over thirty languages. Her new memoir, Ghost Stories, is a reflection on forty-three years shared with her late husband, the writer and filmmaker Paul Auster. In its pages, we encounter not only love and loss, but the quiet persistence of presence, memory, and language itself. (0:00) Grief as Unrequited Love Siri explores the emotional reality of living without Paul Auster, noting that grief occurs because love does not stop when a person dies. (4:00) Facing Death with Courage The importance of not hiding from mortality and how discussing end-of-life wishes offered a necessary perspective. (12:37) Reading from Ghost Stories Siri reads the opening passage of her memoir, detailing how the loss of her husband deranged her sense of time and bodily rhythms. (18:41) The Phantom Limb: ” The beloved is taken away and it feels as if you're amputated or gutted.” (21:50)  Grandfather, Father and Son: Generational Traumas Behind Paul Auster's Writing (24:11)  How Powerful Emotions and a Person's Life Can Play a Role in Illness (30:09) Feeding the Earth "Paul very pointedly told me that he wanted to be buried in the Jewish mode. And the phrase he used was, “I want my body to feed the earth.” (44:23) Physical Love in Marriage On the importance of physical intimacy in long-term marriages, a reality often left out of grief memoirs. (54:00) The Philosophy of the Between How relational existence is foundational to life. (1:00:16) The Hubris of Controlling Nature (1:12:00) The Dark History of Statistics (1:32:12) The Art of Learning vs. AI and Automated Outcomes “I think we have to ask ourselves, what is education? What do we want from it? How do we want people to learn? Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    1h 38m
  5. Muse Cells & The Future of Health: Why Stars like Chris Hemsworth & Tony Robbins Turn to Regenerative Medicine

    JAN 25

    Muse Cells & The Future of Health: Why Stars like Chris Hemsworth & Tony Robbins Turn to Regenerative Medicine

    “They're kind of like a hidden superhero in your body and we just didn't know they existed. Muse cells eat the damaged cells, and they can actually turn into new cells using the cellular machinery.” Dr. Adeel Khan is a global thought leader in regenerative medicine. He is the CEO and Founder of and founder of Eterna Health, whose work with MUSE cell therapy—developed in collaboration with its discoverer, Professor Mari Dezawa—has made him the go-to expert for world leaders, athletes, and celebrities Chris Hemsworth, Kim Kardashian, and Tony Robbins. In this episode, we move beyond the hype of "anti-aging" to explore the hard science of Muse cells (Multilineage-differentiating Stress-Enduring cells). Dr. Khan breaks down how these unique cells differ from the "medicinal signaling cells" (MSCs) found in most clinics and how they act as a bridge to a future where tissue regeneration is standard care. (0:00) The "Repair Guys" & The Muse Difference Dr. Khan explains why traditional stem cells (MSCs) often disappoint and how Muse cells offer the "best of both worlds": safety and pluripotency. (2:19) Smart Cells: How They Find the Damage Understanding the "homing mechanism" that allows Muse cells to sense inflammation and instinctively travel to injured areas like the brain or heart. (3:11) Curing the Incurable: Diabetes & Alzheimer's The potential of the "cure triad"—stem cells, gene therapy, and FMT—to treat complex autoimmune diseases within the next decade. (4:40) Biological Noise & The Symphony of Health How "static" in our gene expression indicates aging, and how cellular therapy can reduce this noise to restore the body's harmony. (6:40) The Viral Monkey Study Dr. Khan discusses a recent study showing significant de-aging in monkeys through high-frequency cell dosing. (7:32) Unshakeable Foundations: Lifestyle as MedicineWhy advanced therapies must be paired with purpose, community, and mindfulness to create a "bulletproof" body. (8:44) From Sketchy to StandardizedNavigating the regulatory landscape: why Muse cells are being classified as a drug in regions like the UAE and the path toward FDA approval. (12:24) A Personal MissionDr. Khan shares the origin of his journey: trying to find solutions for his mother's chronic illness when traditional medicine failed. (14:16) The Cancer HunterUnlike other pluripotent cells that risk tumor growth, Muse cells have a unique mechanism that can detect cancer cells and trigger their death. (18:30)Future Outlook: AI, Nature & Blue Zones Reflections on the risks of AI, the importance of "Blue Zone" city design, and reconnecting with nature in a post-human world. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    22 min
  6. Reimagining Longevity: DR. ADEEL KHAN on Muse Cells & the Future of Regenerative Medicine

    JAN 23

    Reimagining Longevity: DR. ADEEL KHAN on Muse Cells & the Future of Regenerative Medicine

    "The repair mechanisms don't work as well as you get older... The whole idea was: if we can give you more of the 'repair guys,' maybe we can reverse disease." Dr. Adeel Khan is a global thought leader in regenerative medicine. He is the CEO and Founder of and founder of Eterna Health, whose work with MUSE cell therapy—developed in collaboration with its discoverer, Professor Mari Dezawa—has made him the go-to expert for world leaders, athletes, and celebrities Chris Hemsworth, Kim Kardashian, and Tony Robbins. In this episode, we move beyond the hype of "anti-aging" to explore the hard science of Muse cells (Multilineage-differentiating Stress-Enduring cells). Dr. Khan breaks down how these unique cells differ from the "medicinal signaling cells" (MSCs) found in most clinics and how they act as a bridge to a future where tissue regeneration is standard care. (0:00) The Future of Regenerative Medicine (6:13) The Muse Difference: Why these cells are "pluripotent" (able to become any tissue) without the cancer risks of Yamanaka factors. (10:29) Curing the Incurable: Diabetes & Alzheimer's  (11:27) The Cure Triad: How combining stem cells, gene therapy, and Fecal Microbial Transplants (FMT) could cure complex autoimmune diseases within a decade. (12:56) Biological Noise: Measuring the "mistakes" in our gene expression to quantify aging. (16:42) Lifestyle as Medicine: Why Dr. Khan prescribes community, mindfulness, and nature immersion alongside advanced therapies. (18:13) From Sketchy to Standardized: The Regulatory Landscape (23:25)  A Personal Mission: Trying to Save Mom (25:38) The Cancer Hunter: How Muse cells naturally detect and trigger cell death in tumors. (29:02) Quantum Biology & Healing Frequencies(41:13) The AI Pessimist: Planning for a Post-Human World(44:03) Reconnecting with Nature Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    48 min
  7. The AI Wager: Betting on Technology’s Future w/ Philosopher & Author SVEN NYHOLM - Highlights

    12/02/2025

    The AI Wager: Betting on Technology’s Future w/ Philosopher & Author SVEN NYHOLM - Highlights

    “ I think we're betting on AI as something that can help to solve a lot of problems for us. It's the future, we think, whether it's producing text or art, or doing medical research or planning our lives for us, etc., the bet is that AI is going to be great, that it's going to get us everything we want and make everything better. But at the same time, we're gambling, at the extreme end, with the future of humanity  , hoping for the best and hoping that this, what I'm calling the AI wager, is going to work out to our advantage, but we'll see.” As we move towards 2026, we are in a massive “upgrade moment” that most of us can feel. New pressures, new identities, new expectations on our work, our relationships, and our inner lives. Throughout the year, I've been speaking with professional creatives, climate and tech experts, teachers, neuroscientists, psychologists, and futureists about how AI can be used intelligently and ethically as a partnership to ensure we do not raise a generation that relies on machines to think for them. It’s not that we are being replaced by machines. It’s that we’re being invited to become a new kind of human. Where AI isn’t the headline; human transformation is. And that includes the arts, culture, and the whole of society. Generative AI – the technologies that write our emails, draft our reports, and even create art – have become a fixture of daily life, and the philosophical and moral questions they raise are no longer abstract. They are immediate, personal, and potentially disruptive to the core of what we consider human work. Our guest today, Sven Nyholm, is one of the leading voices helping us navigate this new reality. As the Principal Investigator of AI Ethics at the Munich Center for Machine Learning, and co-editor of the journal Science and Engineering Ethics. He has spent his career dissecting the intimate relationship between humanity and the machine. His body of work systematically breaks down concepts that worry us all: the responsibility gap in autonomous systems, the ethical dimensions of human-robot interaction, and the question of whether ceding intellectual tasks to a machine fundamentally atrophies our own skills. His previous books, like Humans and Robots: Ethics, Agency, and Anthropomorphism, have laid the foundational groundwork for understanding these strange new companions in our lives. His forthcoming book is The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: A Philosophical Introduction. The book is a rigorous exploration of everything from algorithmic bias and opacity to the long-term existential risks of powerful AI. We’ll talk about what it means when an algorithm can produce perfect language without genuine meaning, why we feel entitled to take credit for an AI’s creation, and what this technological leap might be costing us, personally, as thinking, moral beings. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    16 min
  8. The Ethics of AI w/ SVEN NYHOLM, Author & Lead Researcher, Munich Centre for Machine Learning

    11/27/2025

    The Ethics of AI w/ SVEN NYHOLM, Author & Lead Researcher, Munich Centre for Machine Learning

    As we move towards 2026, we are in a massive “upgrade moment” that most of us can feel. New pressures, new identities, new expectations on our work, our relationships, and our inner lives. Throughout the year, I've been speaking with professional creatives, climate and tech experts, teachers, neuroscientists, psychologists, and futureists about how AI can be used intelligently and ethically as a partnership to ensure we do not raise a generation that relies on machines to think for them. It’s not that we are being replaced by machines. It’s that we’re being invited to become a new kind of human. Where AI isn’t the headline; human transformation is. And that includes the arts, culture, and the whole of society. Generative AI – the technologies that write our emails, draft our reports, and even create art – have become a fixture of daily life, and the philosophical and moral questions they raise are no longer abstract. They are immediate, personal, and potentially disruptive to the core of what we consider human work. Our guest today, Sven Nyholm, is one of the leading voices helping us navigate this new reality. As the Principal Investigator of AI Ethics at the Munich Center for Machine Learning, and co-editor of the journal Science and Engineering Ethics. He has spent his career dissecting the intimate relationship between humanity and the machine. His body of work systematically breaks down concepts that worry us all: the responsibility gap in autonomous systems, the ethical dimensions of human-robot interaction, and the question of whether ceding intellectual tasks to a machine fundamentally atrophies our own skills. His previous books, like Humans and Robots: Ethics, Agency, and Anthropomorphism, have laid the foundational groundwork for understanding these strange new companions in our lives. His forthcoming book is The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: A Philosophical Introduction. The book is a rigorous exploration of everything from algorithmic bias and opacity to the long-term existential risks of powerful AI. We’ll talk about what it means when an algorithm can produce perfect language without genuine meaning, why we feel entitled to take credit for an AI’s creation, and what this technological leap might be costing us, personally, as thinking, moral beings. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    1h 2m
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4.9
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About

Rethinking tomorrow. We focus on technology, innovation, society, AI, science, engineering, the economy & issues facing people & the planet. Leading thinkers, organizations & environmentalists discuss technology, creativity & pathways for a more sustainable future. Exploring the fascinating minds of creative people. Conversations with writers, artists & creative thinkers across the Arts & STEM. We discuss their life, work & artistic practice. Winners of Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Pulitzer, leaders & public figures share real experiences & offer valuable insights. Notable guests and participating museums and organizations include: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Neil Patrick Harris, Smithsonian, Roxane Gay, Musée Picasso, EARTHDAY.ORG, Neil Gaiman, UNESCO, Joyce Carol Oates, Mark Seliger, Acropolis Museum, Hilary Mantel, Songwriters Hall of Fame, George Saunders, The New Museum, Lemony Snicket, Pritzker Architecture Prize, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Galleries, Joe Mantegna, PETA, Greenpeace, EPA, Morgan Library & Museum, and many others. The interviews are hosted by founder and creative educator Mia Funk with the participation of students, universities, and collaborators from around the world. These conversations are also part of our traveling exhibition.
www.onplanetpodcast.org www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org
 Interviews conducted by artist, activist, and educator Mia Funk with the participation of students and universities around the world. INSTAGRAM @creativeprocesspodcast
 INSTAGRAM @oneplanetpodcast

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