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The Creative Process
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Exploring the fascinating minds of creative people. Conversations with writers, artists and creative thinkers across the Arts and STEM. We discuss their life, work and artistic practice. Winners of Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Pulitzer, Nobel Prize, leaders and public figures share real experiences and offer valuable insights. Notable guests and participating museums and organizations include: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and 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 and 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.

  1. Writers On Memory & the Human Condition: Siri Hustvedt, Ada Limón, Paul Lynch, T.C. Boyle…Share their Stories

    21H AGO

    Writers On Memory & the Human Condition: Siri Hustvedt, Ada Limón, Paul Lynch, T.C. Boyle…Share their Stories

    We look to the arts to help us make sense of the world. Today on The Creative Process, we bring together twelve writers. We hear from Booker Prize winners, Paul Lynch, discussing "cosmic fiction", and Yann Martel on the necessity of magical thinking. We’re joined by Andre Dubus III and Megan Abbott, who share their thoughts on memory and family; while Siri Hustvedt, Etgar Keret and A.L. Kennedy explore the ordinary madness of grief. We listen to the novelists Katie Kitamura, Intan Paramaditha, and Liz Moore reflecting on displacement, trauma and the liminal state—and find a connection to the natural world with T.C. Boyle, and Ada Limón. (0:00) Andre Dubus III –(Bestselling Author of House of Sand and Fog) (0:55) Etgar Keret (Celebrated Author · Filmmaker) (5:08) (3:03) Paul Lynch (Booker Prize-winning Author of Prophet Song) (4:12) Megan Abbott (Bestselling Author of The Turnout) (5:53) Katie Kitamura (Author of Audition · Intimacies) (8:02) Liz Moore (Bestselling Author of Long Bright River) (9:10) A.L. Kennedy (Award-winning Author of Day · Alive in the Merciful Country) (10:14) Siri Hustvedt (Author of Ghost Stories · What I Loved) (13:10) Yann Martel (Booker Prize-Winning Author Of Life Of Pi · Son Of Nobody) (14:27) Intan Paramaditha (Author of The Wandering) (16:18) T.C. Boyle (Bestselling Author of Talk to Me and Blue Skies) (20:27) (17:46) Ada Limón (24th U.S. Poet Laureate · Author of The Hurting Kind) To hear more from each guest, listen to their full interviews. Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod IG @creativeprocesspodcast

    23 min
  2. A Handbook for Climate Hopefuls with Veteran Environmental Journalist FRED PEARCE

    APR 27

    A Handbook for Climate Hopefuls with Veteran Environmental Journalist FRED PEARCE

    After 40 years of reporting on the world's most pressing ecological crises, you might expect Fred Pearce to be a cynic. Instead, he’s one of our greatest advocates for hope. If you follow the news about the environment, it’s easy to feel a sense of impending doom. We hear about accelerating extinctions, collapsing water cycles, and climate tipping points. But my guest today, environmental journalist Fred Pearce, says that if you look at the "ground-truth"—the stories of nature and people he has encountered—there is a surprising, even radical, case for hope. His work has taken him to more than eighty countries, from the logging concessions of Borneo to the radioactive exclusion zones of Chernobyl. He is the environment consultant for New Scientist and a regular contributor to The Guardian. In his latest work, Despite It All: A Handbook for Climate Hopefuls, he challenges the prevailing narrative of environmental collapse. He argues that the "population bomb" is being defused, that we are approaching "peak stuff" in developed nations, and that nature possesses a staggering capacity for resilience that we often ignore. He says that a "Good Anthropocene" is not only possible but is already beginning to take shape through a combination of ancient wisdom and modern technical fixes. We’ll talk today about his life as a journalist and why pessimism may be the greatest enemy of progress. (0:00) The Radical Case for Climate Optimism (2:46) Traveling the World to Find Environmental Resilience (5:08) Fixing the Anthropocene and Escaping Despondency (10:22) Indigenous Wisdom and Local Stewardship (15:28) Rewilding and Trusting Nature's Adaptability (21:10) The Renewable Energy Transition in China and Beyond (23:56) Peak Stuff and Redesigning the Cities of the Future (34:01) Defending Democracy and Environmental Protestors (36:12) Drinking Radioactive Vodka in Chernobyl's Exclusion Zone (41:29) When the Rivers Run Dry and Water Scarcity (50:37) Why the Population Bomb is Defusing (55:36) The Origins of an Environmental Journalist (1:03:15) The Future of Journalism in the Age of AI (1:13:27) Generational Hope and the Next Industrial Revolution Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    1h 17m
  3. We Are Becoming Earth - Scientists, Writers, Musicians, Environmentalists & Indigenous Voices on the Living World

    APR 22

    We Are Becoming Earth - Scientists, Writers, Musicians, Environmentalists & Indigenous Voices on the Living World

    Today, on Earth Day, we explore the Living World—a reality where we are not merely on a planet, but are a moving part of its very metabolism. We travel from the High Sierras with Paul Hawken to the forests of Costa Rica with Thomas Crowther. Guided by Merlin Sheldrake and David George Haskell, we explore ecology, policy and music with guests Paula Pinho, Hans Bruyninckx, Bill Hare and Alice Schmidt. Alongside Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Tom Chi, Erland Cooper, Rebecca Tickell and Britt Wray, we ask what happens when we stop trying to dominate and start trying to collaborate with the Earth? (0:04) TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE Founder, First Voices Radio (2:05) PAUL HAWKEN Founder, Project Regeneration, Project Drawdown, Author (24:25) (4:57) THOMAS CROWTHER Founder, Restor, Co-chair UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (5:51) MERLIN SHELDRAKE Biologist, Author, Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds (8:23) DAVID GEORGE HASKELL Biologist, Author, How Flowers Made Our World (10:43) HANS BRUYNINCKX Fmr. Director European Environment Agency (11:39) REBECCA TICKELL (Director, Kiss the Ground) Soil Health (26:27) (13:32) TOM CHI Founding Partner, At One Ventures, Author, Climate Capital (14:44) PAULA PINHO Chief Spokesperson, European Commission (16:08) BILL HARE Founder/CEO, Climate Analytics, Physicist (18:03) ALICE SCHMIDT Global Sustainability Advisor, Author (19:18) ERLAND COOPER (Composer) Earth as Collaborator (22:38) BRITT WRAY Author, Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis To hear more from each guest, listen to their full interviews Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod IG @creativeprocesspodcast

    30 min
  4. The Fight for the Future: AI, Privacy & Power with CARISSA VÉLIZ

    APR 21

    The Fight for the Future: AI, Privacy & Power with CARISSA VÉLIZ

    “Algorithms are deciding whether you are eligible for a loan, a job, an apartment or insurance. They determine what you see online, who reads your social media posts and who connects with you on dating apps. They may even decide whether you get arrested or go to jail. Your very life hangs in the balance of prophecies.” In this episode of the Speaking Out of Place podcast, Professor David Palumbo-Liu talks with Carissa Véliz, an associate professor at the University of Oxford, about her new book,Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future—from Ancient Oracles to AI. Linking this work to her previous book, Privacy is Power: Why and How You Should Take Back Control of Your Data, Véliz writes: “ surveillance and prediction are digital technology’s original sins.” In our wide-ranging discussion, we talk about how both massive and intrusive invasions of privacy at all levels of society and false claims to be able to predict the future erode democracy, are corrosive to ethics, and undermine people’s ability to think for themselves. Instead, we are conditioned to trust an unregulated band of “effective altruists” who claim to know better than we what kinds of lives we should prefer and the choices we should make. Véliz argues instead that we should embrace the uncertain to build resilience, to prepare for contingency but not be determined by what we cannot see, and to foster curiosity and imagination. EPISODE CHAPTERS (0:00) Digital Technology's Original Sins (2:34) How Books and Prophecies Choose Their Readers (5:50) The Link Between AI, Mass Surveillance, and Profit (8:46) Why Ethics Is the Hidden Foundation of Democracy (13:52) The Future Tense as a Tech Executive Power Play (16:20) Predictions as Speech Acts and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies (22:04) Artificial Intelligence as the Ultimate Bullshitter (26:38) Effective Altruism, Utilitarianism, and the Dangers of Infinity (35:10) Losing Connection to the Analog World and Critical Thinking (42:16) Family Stories and Absorbing the Shock of Life (46:56) Cultivating Bravery and Defying Tech’s Probabilistic Vision (49:19) Practical Advice for Everyday Life and Preparation Episode Website www.palumbo-liu.com https://speakingoutofplace.com Bluesky @palumboliu.bsky.social Instagram @speaking_out_of_place

    54 min
  5. Why Do We Listen to the Talkers More Than the Builders Saving the Planet? - Physicist, Designer, Investor TOM CHI - Highlights

    APR 17

    Why Do We Listen to the Talkers More Than the Builders Saving the Planet? - Physicist, Designer, Investor TOM CHI - Highlights

    Why does our economy treat environmental destruction as an inevitable side effect rather than a massive design flaw? How can shifting our focus from polarizing "talkers" to practical "builders" literally save the planet? We are repeatedly told that the climate crisis is too vast and volatile to solve, but what if the true obstacle is simply bad design? Tom Chi is a physicist, designer, inventor, and investor whose work has shaped everything from Google Glass and rapid prototyping at Google X to some of the most ambitious climate technologies being built today. He’s now the founding partner of At One Ventures, where he invests in deep-tech companies focused on a bold goal: a world where humanity is a net positive to nature. Tom’s new book, Climate Capital: Investing in the Tools for a Regenerative Future, reframes economics itself—not as a fixed law, but as a design discipline that can be reimagined to align with the physical realities of our planet. Drawing on science, systems thinking, and lessons from nature, the book offers a grounded, practical framework for moving beyond both climate doom and empty optimism—and toward real, regenerative solutions. Today’s conversation is about what Tom calls the 4Cs: Capital, Compassion, Climate, and Community—but also about agency, responsibility, and what becomes possible when we stop treating the future as something that happens to us and start designing it deliberately. 0:00) Build Integrity: Choosing Builders Over Talkers Why prioritizing those who physically create solutions over those who merely debate them is essential for systemic change (1:21) Overcoming Powerlessness Through Creativity, Critical Thinking, Community Compassion Utilizing a specific framework of portable skills to move from climate anxiety into meaningful, iterative action (2:22) Capital Misallocation: Taxing What We Want to See A critique of current tax structures that burden labor while under-taxing capital and failing to serve societal needs (3:47) The Volatility Gap: Why Average Temperatures Mislead Understanding why increasing climate volatility—rather than just average temperature rise—is the true driver of human distress (6:19) Economics As Design: Redesigning The Global Engine Moving beyond "physics envy" in economics to treat the global market as a discipline that can be redesigned for better outcomes (9:11) Depth Over Breadth: Reforming Education Through Experience (13:30) Local Resilience: How Cities Can Lead The Transformation Practical, block-by-block strategies for urban adaptation, from expanding tree canopies to improving household efficiency (16:33) AI and Robotics in Agriculture (19:12) Human-Centric AI: Flipping The Priority Of Automation (20:18) Thinking In Pictures: A Language Beyond Words Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod IG @creativeprocesspodcast

    23 min
  6. Climate Capital: Investing in the Tools for a Regenerative Future - TOM CHI, Google X Co-founder, Founding Partner At One Ventures

    APR 16

    Climate Capital: Investing in the Tools for a Regenerative Future - TOM CHI, Google X Co-founder, Founding Partner At One Ventures

    “In the book I spend a bunch of time basically teaching skills and teaching frameworks of thinking. Not to indoctrinate, it's not a framework like an ideology where you need to believe exactly these things. This is a lot more about how does one use their minds effectively to solve problems that have been solved before. Of course, I work on things that have to do with investment and climate and the future of the economy and automation. The main things I'm trying to teach in the book are skills around creativity, critical thinking, community compassion and frameworks around how to go and use that on problems that should be relatively portable to a bunch of problems that are meaningful to you. The way that education needs to change is that people need to actively be working on things that truly matter to them so that over time they end up being able to go make that difference.” Tom Chi is a physicist, designer, inventor, and investor whose work has shaped everything from Google Glass and rapid prototyping at Google X to some of the most ambitious climate technologies being built today. He’s now the founding partner of At One Ventures, where he invests in deep-tech companies focused on a bold goal: a world where humanity is a net positive to nature. Tom’s new book, Climate Capital: Investing in the Tools for a Regenerative Future, reframes economics itself—not as a fixed law, but as a design discipline that can be reimagined to align with the physical realities of our planet. Drawing on science, systems thinking, and lessons from nature, the book offers a grounded, practical framework for moving beyond both climate doom and empty optimism—and toward real, regenerative solutions. Today’s conversation is about what Tom calls the 4Cs: Capital, Compassion, Climate, and Community—but also about agency, responsibility, and what becomes possible when we stop treating the future as something that happens to us and start designing it deliberately. (0:00) Overcoming Powerlessness through Creativity, Critical Thinking, Community Compassion Why broad hopelessness about the future is a purposeful tactic to maintain the status quo (7:16) How average temperature metrics fail to communicate the true danger of extreme climate volatility. (11:54) Economics as Design (17:11) Multi-disciplinary Learning Centered on Real-World Impact (26:12) Local Resilience (31:15) Tax & Capital Misallocation (36:52) Build Integrity (45:32) AI and Robotics in Agriculture (51:08) The First Honeybee Vaccine (56:11) The Entropy Curve of Pollution (1:15:31) Human-Centric AI Flipping the priority of automation to serve the collective good rather than enriching a select few (1:20:59) Thinking in Pictures How learning to communicate and problem-solve without language fueled a career in deep tech invention Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    1h 27m
  7. Listening to the Living World: Biologist DAVID GEORGE HASKELL on Flowers, Forests & Songs of Nature - Highlights

    APR 11

    Listening to the Living World: Biologist DAVID GEORGE HASKELL on Flowers, Forests & Songs of Nature - Highlights

    Step into the deep time of the forest floor, where a single fallen leaf contains the history of the world, and invisible fungal networks hum with ancient conversations. Biologist and acclaimed author David George Haskell reveals a staggering truth: we are completely dependent on the botanical world, and our belief in strict human individuality is a biological illusion. Haskell has spent much of his life training himself to see the universal within the infinitesimally small. He's famously sat for a year in a single square meter of Tennessee's forest, a mandala experience that revealed the deep history of the world through a single fallen leaf. He's a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his books The Forest Unseen and Sounds Wild and Broken, and he received the John Burroughs Medal for The Songs of Trees. His work often focuses on what he calls the unwaged labor of the natural world, the complex biological communities that sustain our planet without a monetary ledger. And his latest book is How Flowers Made Our World. In it, he argues that we are essentially grass apes dependent on the ancient innovations of flowering plants for two-thirds of our daily calories. (0:00) How Flowers Made Our World (1:33) Networked Connection is the Foundation of Life (2:00) Contemplating the Small (4:07) Consciousness, Intelligence & Memory in the More-Than-Human-World (4:18) We Are Grass Apes (5:41) Memories of His Childhood in Paris & Wild Orchids (6:34) The Networked Intelligence of Forests (7:45) The Earth in Full Song (8:46) The Practice of Listening (10:11) Escaping the Screen: Real Connections in the Classroom (11:35) The True Cost of AI (12:11) Transforming Ourselves (14:23) Silence Without Expectation (15:32) A Sensory Legacy for the Future Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    18 min
  8. How Flowers Made Our World: DAVID GEORGE HASKELL on Deep Time, Plant Intelligence & Listening to the Living World

    APR 10

    How Flowers Made Our World: DAVID GEORGE HASKELL on Deep Time, Plant Intelligence & Listening to the Living World

    What if the defining revolution of Earth's history wasn't led by animals or humans, but by flowers? Are we truly individuals, or are our bodies and minds just walking ecosystems? Our guest today is David George Haskell, a biologist who has spent much of his life training himself to see the universal within the infinitesimally small. He's famously sat for a year in a single square meter of Tennessee's forest, a mandala experience that revealed the deep history of the world through a single fallen leaf. He's a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his books The Forest Unseen and Sounds Wild and Broken, and he received the John Burroughs Medal for The Songs of Trees. His work often focuses on what he calls the unwaged labor of the natural world, the complex biological communities that sustain our planet without a monetary ledger. And his latest book is How Flowers Made Our World. In it, he argues that we are essentially grass apes dependent on the ancient innovations of flowering plants for two-thirds of our daily calories. (0:00) How Flowers Made Our World The incredible ancient history of flowers on Earth (4:56) Contemplating the Small Expanding our world by restricting our gaze (14:30) The Illusion of Individuality Why atomism is false and interconnectedness is the foundation of life (26:08) We Are Grass Apes The evolutionary origins of humans and our dietary dependence on grass (33:32) Memories of His Childhood in Paris & Wild Orchids (38:55) The Networked Intelligence of Forests How trees communicate and share resources beneath the soil (44:00) The Earth in Full Song Tracing the sonic history of our planet (51:08) The Practice of Listening Why tuning in to the natural world is crucial for our survival (1:01:21) Silence Without Expectation Sitting with nature without demanding progress or enlightenment (1:11:01) Transforming Ourselves Why personal change matters in the fight for the climate (1:15:20) Escaping the Screen Finding real human-to-human connection away from technology (1:16:16) The True Cost of AI The devastating impact of data centers on our fossil fuel consumption (1:23:18) A Sensory Legacy for the Future What we must preserve for the generations not yet born Episode Website www.creativeprocess.info/pod Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

    1h 26m
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Exploring the fascinating minds of creative people. Conversations with writers, artists and creative thinkers across the Arts and STEM. We discuss their life, work and artistic practice. Winners of Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Pulitzer, Nobel Prize, leaders and public figures share real experiences and offer valuable insights. Notable guests and participating museums and organizations include: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and 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 and 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.

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