Harnessing Beauty to Create a Life-Centered Future
Tim was a guest on Frederik G. Pferdt's new podcast
How do you envision the future—yours, ours, and the planet’s? Tim joined Frederik Pferdt, former Google chief innovation evangelist and author the book What’s Next Is Now: How to Live Future Ready (Harper Business, 2024), for the first episode of Frederik’s The Future Is How podcast. Together Frederik and Tim explored how beauty can inspire connection, reimagine the future, and help us live more meaningful lives. Moreover, they discussed why it’s time to value all life—including AI—and how moving beyond human-centeredness can address some of our biggest challenges, including:
• Why you shouldn’t limit yourself to one vision of the future
• Exercises in cultivating intimacy inspired by the artist Maria Abramovic
• Attributes of beauty and how to find it
• Practices for strengthening your imagination muscles
• Why Tim is optimistic about AI’s role in our future
• The cost of human-centeredness and the case for valuing all life
Listen to the episode on Spotify
Highlights:
(0:00) Intro
(02:57) Welcome Tim Leberecht
(03:40) A sneak preview of the future Tim (first version)
(06:24) A sneak preview of the future Tim (second version)
(09:06) Lessons from Maria Abramovic’s art
(14:37) Tim’s practice of “silent dinners”
(20:41) The transcendent power of moments of beauty and awe
(23:15) Attributes of beauty—and why intimacy and attention are key components
(26:25) An exercise in attention and fostering intensity
(27:22) A moment to pause and reconnect
(31:50) Applying the lens of beauty to the future by imagining lives we haven’t lived
(37:15) Getting started with practices to create the future you want
(47:28) How AI might be used for beauty and connection
(48:10) What shifted Tim’s perspective on AI, making him more optimistic
(50:22) Human-centeredness vs. life-centeredness
(57:20) A case for beauty as a source of connection and peace
(59:20) How Tim wants to be in the future
(1:03:15) Frederik’s final thoughts