“I’m not trying to denigrate the scale of our problems. I’m not trying to say they are smaller than we think. I’m saying our capacity to solve problems is much larger than we think.” ~ Kevin Kelly

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 mindset; “lighthouse” parenting; being curious about the things we’re not interested in; just how persuasive curiosity can be; and why we’re all so very dependent on one another — in a good way!

Choosing to be a little more optimistic will help you be on the side of those who are building a future that we want.

Listen to Choose to Be Curious #280: Curiosity & Choosing to Be Optimistic, with Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly is the founding executive editor of WIRED magazine, the former editor and publisher of the Whole Earth Review, and a bestselling author of books on technology and culture, including Excellent Advice for Living. Subscribe to Kevin’s newsletter, Recomendo, at recomendo.com.

There’s a whole other conversation to be had with Kevin about future thinking and the Long Now Foundation.

A shout-out to good egg Ken Woodward of Curated Questions for alerting me when Kevin Kelly opened his calendar. Check out my conversation with Ken: Wrestling with Questions.

Did this tickle your curiosity bone? You might enjoy these C2BC Classics: Non-Obvious Thinking with Rohit Bhargava; Curiosity & Creating Sense in a World of Nonsense, with Saul Perlmutter; and Solutions Journalism: An Exercise in Curiosity, with Marie Von Hafften.

Theme music by Sean Balick; ”One Little Triumph” by Piano Mover, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Kevin Kelly photo by Chris Michel, used with permission.

You can subscribe to Choose to Be Curious on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.