Keep Wonder Alive, Manifesto #idontknow

MANIFESTO

Keep Wonder Alive
Make the “I don’t know” Commitment
In the next 10 years through to 2024, 1 Billion jobs will
be taken over by machines. Google cars will replace
taxis. IBM’s Watson will replace customer service staff.
We cannot out-reason the machines.

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We must change the way we teach, the way we parent
and the role of “I don’t know” in our society.

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I ask for your help. I will ask for your commitment not
to say "I know", when you don't. I will ask you to use "I
don't know" more. Let's let our connected intuition have
the space it needs to work as it was originally designed..

CONOR NEILL
– Teacher, Thinker and Tinkerer –

A Publication of
CN
MOVING
PEOPLE TO
ACTION

What’s in the Tin?
We have seven chapters here in this little
book about Keeping Wonder Alive. I have
called them:

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1.“Daddy, what are stars?”

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2.To know or to “know”

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3.Finding the Final Cause

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4.Teaching in the Google Century

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5.Better Wonder, Better Questions

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6.Sign the “I don’t know” Commitment

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7.[More about Conor Neill]

CHAPTER

1

“Daddy, what are stars?”

“

Here’s a little mote of wisdom: Not everyone
who claims to be an expert, is indeed an
expert. In fact, anyone claiming to be an
expert on anything, in my opinion, should
immediately be viewed with suspicion, or be
able to produce a PhD Diploma on the
subject he or she is professing to be expert in.

Chris A. Jackson

”

“Daddy, what are stars?”
Curiosity, Wonder and Awe
Last night I fell asleep up on my rooftop in a hammock with my 6
year old daughter. As we lay there swinging she looked up into
the night sky and turned to me to ask "Daddy, what are stars?"

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I looked to her face and saw that she wasn't asking for one of my
silly stories, she really wanted to know.

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I took a breath and began "Stars are giant balls of gases that are
collapsing in on themselves because of the force of gravity. The
light we see is the result of the atoms and molecules splitting and
combining and releasing massive energy that we see as light. The
stars are so far away that the light we are seeing has travelled for
millions of years to reach us now. This light we see as a star was
made millions of years ago".

!
She looked at me with a look that said "where did you get that
story from?". I paused. She was right. I have never touched a star,
I have never seen the fusion reactions at first hand. I believe this
because it was told to me in school. I believe it because it makes
sense to me with what I understand of chemistry and physics. I
believe it because it is a good answer to the question

Looking up at Stars, Photo Credit: Skiwalker79 via Flickr

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"what is the process by which stars shine?" It answers one part
of what stars are.

!
However, it is an answer that fails to address the wonder of this
universe. It tries to capture an easy, shrink-wrapped, easy
explanation. It closes down wonder. It allows me to go back
indoors to the TV and to my microwave dinner and forget
about the amazing universe in which we live.

!
The Victorians used to close the curtains of their train carriages
when they crossed the Alps. They hated the way the giant
mountains made them feel so small and helpless.

“

There are only two
ways to live your life.
One is as though
nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though
everything is a miracle
Albert Einstein

”

My answer to my daughter was closing the curtains of my train
carriage. Instead of allowing myself to be open to the mountains
of knowledge that I do not know, I packaged up stars into a simple
paragraph of cause-effect.

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It is ok to not know. It is human to appreciate mystery. In the
words of Albert Einstein: "There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though
everything is a miracle.”

CHAPTER

2
Knowing and “Knowing”

“

You can learn the name of a bird in all the
human languages: in English, in Spanish, in
Portuguese, in Japanese, in Chinese… and
when you are finished with all that… you’ll
know absolutely nothing about the bird…
you only know about humans in different
places and what they call the bird.
Richard Feynman

”

Staring at Fire, Photo Credit: Mr Theklan via Flickr

!
Understanding the process of combustion is not the same as
starring in awe at the flames that have attracted so many
generations of our ancestors. How many generations since
time began have sat around a fire, have shared stories, have
allowed the hypnotic flickering flames to inspire dreams and
set imagination loose on adventure. The joy is in the not
trying to understand, in just being together in the flickering
light and warming glow.

!
We live in an era where wonder is being killed (and it is me,
her father, that is doing the killing)

Reason has limits

To know the name of a bird is not to know
anything about the bird
The menu in a great restaurant describes the food, but it does not
replace the food. We don’t go to Ferran Adria’s restaurant El Bulli
to look at the menu, we go to experience the food, the service, the
feeling of really being there.

!
I have been to Rome. If you ask me about Rome, I can describe my
experience. I can even lend you the lonely planet guidebook, but
this can and will never replace the experience of being in Rome. A
school research project on Roman history can never replace the
human experience of standing in the summer heat and staring in
awe at the two thousand year old Forum Romana, the taste of
gelato in Plaza Narbone, the noise of modern cars passing right in
front of the great ancient Colosseum.

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I want to understand everything, and I lose the possibility of awe
of anything. I want to control, not live in harmony. I want to
own, and not share, not trust.

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I can understand so many things with my reasoning, I habitually
am drawn to apply the same reasoning to everything.

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This is killing wonder. This is killing awe.

Aristotle’s 4 Causes:  
Material, Formal, Efficient & Final
My friend Raul said that you cannot "understand" a poem, you
cannot dissect a poem, you cannot cut it up into atomic elements
and solve the "maths" of poetry. We can "feel" a poem, the whole
poem in its entirety.

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Aristotle described the 4 causes as the material, formal, efficient
and final.
The material cause is the physical property that make the
thing exist in the first place; the table is made of wood, the
properties of wood support weight and feel heavy.
The formal cause is the rule that governs the physical
properties; the table stays on the floor because of the force of
gravity.
The efficient cause - the means by which the object came into
being; Van Gogh's sunflowers exists because he sat down and
painted it.
The final cause - the purpose of the object; why did Van Gogh
paint it? What does it say to me? What does it mean?

The Final Cause has no outside answer, it
only has my interpreted answer

Mathematics, Photo Credit: World Bank via Flickr

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Reason and rationality have given us so much. They have cured
the world of smallpox, of plague, of polio. They have given us
tools to alleviate so much suffering. Money and trade has
connected the world. Modern farming, food distribution,
refrigeration mean that we don't need to be hungry. Industrial
production has given us cars, planes, houses for all. It has
reduced disease, it has reduced hunger, it has made transport
easier.

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The danger is that purpose and meaning is not there. I can't find
meaning in rational thought. I can't find my way to faith through
a process of scientific doubt.

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The question about meaning in life is not one that can
be addressed by seeking material, formal or efficient
cause; it is the final cause.
.

CHAPTER

3
Finding the Final Cause

“

I don't believe people are looking
for the meaning of life as much as
they are looking for the experience
of being alive.
Joseph Campbell

”

Finding the Final Cause
Where to Begin Seeking the Final Cause
There are two worlds in which we live. There is the world that I
share with you, and billions more. This is the world of planes and
cars and trees and houses and jobs and money. This world has
benefitted greatly from reason, it has reduced so much suffering
from hunger and cold. Good reason can allow disagreement to be
resolved through discussion and logic rather than guns and fists.

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There is another world. This is a world that is only mine, it is only
here while I am here and it will disappear forever when I die. This
is the world of my dreams and my inner voice and my belief and
my doubt.

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These two worlds match the two life journeys described by Joseph
Campbell: the right hand path and the hero journey.

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The Right Hand Path: Finding my role in Society
The right hand path is the journey of discovering my role in
society. This is the myth of King Arthur. He is a young boy
wandering and exploring and then he pulls the sword from the
stone and becomes King. The small boy is gone, his life purpose
becomes King of the realm. He has found and accepted the role
society needs him to play.

The Hero’s Journey
Where to Begin Seeking the Final Cause

Journey, Photo Credit: h.koppdelaney via Flickr

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The Hero Journey: Finding myself, my meaning
The hero journey is a more lonely journey. It is a journey away
from society and the world outside, the status quo of the world
as it is today. It is a journey inwards, into my sense of self;
Freud's id, ego and super ego; or Jung's ego, self and shadow.
It is a journey through self doubt, accepting and quieting the
inner voice of criticism that says I am not enough.

Entry to the Hero’s Journey
How do I begin the hero journey? There are three important access
points onto this inner journey of discovery.

1. Public speaking is a powerful outer

journey path that creates a search inside myself. Each speech that I
give pushes me to search inside myself for why a topic is important
to me, what made it important to me, who shaped my views and
values on this topic. In learning to share my point of view with
others, I am really learning to discover what it means to me. (Learn
more about Public Speaking)

2. Art is another entrance point to the hero journey. James

Joyce describes two types of art: "Proper" and "Improper" art. Proper
art is static. It holds the observer in a moment of awe and wonder,
a temporary lifting of the analytical tools of our senses (body) and
our thinking (mind).

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The evolutionary origins of our senses, eyes, ears, nose were to
improve our ability to find stuff to eat (desire) and avoid being
eaten (fear). Improper art plays on these features of the senses: an
arousal of desire or fear. Proper art bypasses these origins of the
senses and speaks direct to the self inside. It creates a temporary
stay of fear and desire leaving me in a moment where I am just with
my self. The ego is gone for a brief instant. I get to glimpse my true
self uncluttered and unfiltered by the fear and desire drives of ego.

“

If you want your children to
be intelligent, read them fairy
tales. If you want them to be
more intelligent, read them
more fairy tales.
Albert Einstein

3. Stories Listening to great stories, well told is

”

another entrance point onto the hero journey. Exploration of
myths and the stories that have survived centuries upon centuries
give another access point to the inner journey, to helping us
understand that our inner experience is special but it is not
unique; we are not the first to have felt this way. (Learn more
about Stories)

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!
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We need both journeys
A full human life needs both journeys. Outer world material and
status success without an integration with my inner world, my
sense of purpose, my identity will create enormous emotional
stress. It will lead me to apathy, to a feeling of emptiness; it will
lead me to depression.

To know the name of a bird is not to know
anything about the bird

Sacred Family Cathedral, Photo Credit: Molinary via Flickr

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It is not enough to build great cathedrals, I must explore why
I am involved in the process. I must explore my experience of
the day to day construction. In the absence of this
exploration, I am a day labourer working on a building; a
mercenary. Anything I “do to get” - whether it is “do to get”
money, status or fame - will be empty. It can not be the end
point. In the presence of this exploration, I am a full part of
the building of an important cathedral.

Anything that I do with an attitude of “do to get”
will never become meaningful in itself

CHAPTER

4
Teaching in the Google Century

“

How often people speak of art and science as
though they were two entirely different things,
with no interconnection. An artist is emotional,
they think, and uses only his intuition; he sees all at
once and has no need of reason. A scientist is cold,
they think, and uses only his reason; he argues
carefully step by step, and needs no imagination.
That is all wrong. The true artist is quite rational
as well as imaginative and knows what he is doing;
if he does not, his art suffers. The true scientist is
quite imaginative as well as rational, and
sometimes leaps to solutions where reason can
follow only slowly; if he does not, his science
suffers.

Isaac Asimov

”

Not the End of Reason

“

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of
the stars - mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can
see the stars on a desert night, and feel them.
But do I see less or more?
Nobel Physicist, Richard Feynman

”

I am not saying that rational materialism has no place. It is a
powerful tool. A hammer is a powerful tool. A hammer used on a
nail is a wonderful use. A hammer used on an itchy finger is not a
wonderful use. "Doubt everything" is great in mathematics, in
supply chain, in factory optimization. In these places it is a
hammer on a nail. There are places where it is the wrong tool. You
can use a hammer on an itchy finger; the problem is you won't have
any finger when you have removed the itch.

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We have spent a century improving our survival rate. Babies born
today will live to old age. However, mere survival is not the final
end of a well-used human life. The obituary does not say "he
survived to the bitter end". A good use is to go beyond survive and
to thrive.

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The experience of being alive is to be held in awe
and wonder at the majesty of it all and let go of
the need to cut it up and understand it, control it,
tame it, own it.

“

If you want to build a ship,
don't drum up people to
collect wood and don't
assign them tasks and
work, but rather teach
them to long for the
endless immensity of the
sea.
author of the Little Prince,
Antoine de St Exubery

”

Four years ago I changed how I teach. I moved away from
transmitting knowledge and tools, and towards Antoine de St
Exubery’s call “teach them to long for the immensity of the sea”.

!
We are alive now in a world of mobile google. Every smartphone
has access to every word ever written and every video ever
recorded. A child who wants to know can know right now. If that
child has an interest in the Taj Mahal, he can find instantly what
the Taj Mahal looks like (google image search); when, why and how
it was built (wikipedia); where it is (google maps); they can even
find who is there right now (foursquare or Facebook places). If a
child wants to find out something and believes it is important they will find it.

What to Teach?

What should we learn to keep us safe from robots and machines?
What is the job description of teacher in a world where every piece
of human knowledge is available via a google search, every video
through youtube?

!
How about this:?
•Enjoy

awe.

•Amplify

wonder.

•Play with

!
!

dreams.
Childhood, Photo Credit: Molinary via Flickr

What makes us different from monkeys, from apes, from lizards?
What makes us different from the machines that we are building?
What will keep humans ahead of the robots?

I have made a 180 degree turn away from a focus on knowledge,
tools and examples over to a focus on curiosity: I want my

students to see that it is possible and to see that it
matters.

!
!
! We live in the google-wikipedia ubiquitous world
! now, all human knowledge is right here in my hands
!
!

If I want to know, I will

Welcome to the world of mobile google: Every smartphone has
access to every word ever written and every video ever recorded. A
child who wants to know can know right now. What is there to
teach a child who can know everything? What is there to teach an
employee with all the world's information at the tip of a finger?

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The internet is a giant database of material, formal and efficient
causes. However, the final cause - what it means - can't just be
looked up online. A person must find out for themselves.

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This is not a call to stop the study of mathematics and physics, of
biology and chemistry, of logic and reason. This is a call to hold
ourselves open to the two worlds, the two life journeys, the
seeking to understand in parallel with the ability to stand and stare
and be amazed by the amazing complex simple majesty of the
universe.

The 3 Parts of Capability
Knowing What and How is never Enough,
Knowing Why Completes the Capability
Harvard Professor, Clayton Christensen in his recent book “How
will you measure your life?” speaks of a capability being made up
of 3 elements: resources, processes and prioritization.

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If my daughter is to do something of value she needs all three.

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Imagine she has a computer (a resource). Imagine she also has the
skill of programming, or of using photoshop to design objects (a
process). She has the potential to create, but only if the third
element comes together - prioritization.

!
What does she do in her discretionary time?
Does she ask “what could I do with this? I wonder what I could
create? If I just change this small element, how might it look?”.
This is prioritization. A talent is nothing without the repeated
decision to do the practice, to explore the talent, to develop.

Capability = Why + How + Resources

“

Like employees, children
build self-esteem by doing
things that are hard and
learning what works.”
Clayton Christensen

”

Discipline + Wonder
Wonder combined with Discipline, we
multiply the human potential

Prioritisation is the beginning of discipline rather than obedience.
Obedience allows me to follow your orders. I can make many
people be an extension of me if I can get their obedience.
However, this group will never be more than an extension of my
mind.

!
Discipline allied to wonder and curiosity, now we multiply the
potential of my mind. Those around me no longer delegate their
thinking to my mind, they begin to apply their own intelligence.
True freedom can only exist in a world where discipline is
widespread.

CHAPTER

5
Better Wonder, Better Questions
Better Questions, Better Science

“

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the
rational mind is a faithful servant. We have
created a society that honors the servant and
has forgotten the gift. We will not solve the
problems of the world from the same level of
thinking we were at when we created them.
More than anything else, this new century
demands new thinking: We must change our
materially based analyses of the world around
us to include broader, more multidimensional
perspectives.
Albert Einstein

”

“

"logic proves but intuition
discovers”
Henri Poincare

”

Better Wonder, Better Questions
The more we know, the better questions
we can ask of what we do not yet know.
The more we know, the better questions we can ask of what we do
not yet know. This is what the great scientists have always had:
better ignorance. A more informed, rounded, clearer quality of
ignorance that leads to deeper questions that leads to deeper,
better, more awe inspiring wonder.

!
This then should be the aim of teachers. We know a lot that
must be shared with the next generation. However, we know so
little of what is possible to wonder about, and it is the open spaces
that are worthy of expiration, are intense sources of awe-inspiring
wonder that we really want our children to ask better questions of.
This is the challenge of teachers today. Share what we know while
never, ever giving the sense that we will ever reach the end of the
process of exploration and discovery. We didn't get to the moon
only because we know about rockets, we got to the moon because
so many generations of humans have wondered and dreamed
about it.

2001 A Space Odyssey, Photo Credit: Stanley Kubrick, Film

!
Neil Gaiman speaks of a visit to China in 2007 for the first
Science Fiction convention in that country. At a break, he
found himself next to a very senior member of the Chinese
Communist Party - and he asked:

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“why are you opening up Science Fiction before other things?”

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The senior party figure said: “It's simple: The Chinese were
brilliant at making things if other people brought them the
plans. But they did not innovate and they did not invent.
They did not imagine. So they sent a delegation to the US, to
Apple, to Microsoft, to Google, and they asked the people
there who were inventing the future about themselves:
and they found that all of them had read science fiction
when they were boys or girls."

“

It is in the admission of ignorance and the
admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for
the continuous motion of human beings in some
direction that doesn't get confined, permanently
blocked, as it has so many times before in various
periods in the history of man.
Richard Feynman

”

Begin: “I don’t know”
How do we re-find wonder without losing the great gifts of
rational thought? We need wonder, mystery and awe. How do we
enjoy wonder and awe without creating silos of fundamentalists?

!
We don't need more fundamentalism, resistance to change and
avoidance of diversity. We do need a greater willingness to allow
mystery to be wonderful in and of itself.

!
I believe the two can co-exist. I believe they begin with a newfound respect for the answer: “I don’t know”.

CHAPTER

6
The “I don’t know” Commitment

“
“

Daddy, what are stars?
Alexandra Neill, 6 years old

”

I don’t know. What do you think?
… They are beautiful. I do know
that millions of children have asked
this question you just asked. … I
do know that this is how all the
great scientists started...

”

Conor Neill, slightly wiser now &
committed to say “I don’t know” when
he doesn’t know something

“

”Daddy, what are stars?”

”know”
Begin:“I don’t
Alexandra Neill, 6 years old

Lets stop making others feel smaller
by giving big, complicated answers

How can I answer my daughter's question? What are stars?

!
The material and formal causes are addressed by my original
answer.

!
The efficient and the final cause are awesome, wonderful mystery.
It is ok to not know. It is human to pause and look with my
daughter and say "I don't fully know. They are beautiful. I

don't know why they are there. I don't know how they got
there. I do know that the light is from fire. I do know that
they are far away. I do know that our ancestors for
thousands of years have looked up in the night sky just like
you and me today and wondered. I do know that millions of
children have asked just this question you asked tonight.
This is how all the great scientists started."

SIGN THE

“I DON’T KNOW”
COMMITMENT
I [ ___________] commit to use the phrase “I don’t know” as
often as possible, especially to children who ask interesting
questions. I commit to help others use the phrase when they
are at risk of claiming to know, when they don’t really know.
I commit to ignore self-proclaimed experts until they can
demonstrate that they have done more than read a book on
the subject. I commit to share this manifesto widely and
allow wonder to live freely again.
I sign now as my
commitment to “I don’t know”.

SIGN NOW
http://www.cono.rs/idontknow

Better Questions = Better Science
MOVING
PEOPLE TO
ACTION

Credits
Thanks to these photographers for allowing Creative
Commons usage of their good works
Star Photo Credit: Skiwalker79 http://www.flickr.com/photos/7321165@N03/4174398309/
Fire Photo Credit: Mr. Theklan http://www.flickr.com/photos/99843959@N00/729285014/
Maths Photo Credit: World Bank Photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/10816734@N03/5321246556/
Journey Photo Credit: h.koppdelaney http://www.flickr.com/photos/16230215@N08/6187834483/
Cathedral Photo Credit: Molinary http://www.flickr.com/photos/36801190@N00/4268157204/
Childhood Photo Credit: h.koppdelaney http://www.flickr.com/photos/16230215@N08/3042011830/

Thanks to these wise people for saying it in words better
than I could

For Everything Else including how to share, where it
came from, who I am:

http://cono.rs/idontknow

The Author

Conor Neill
Teacher, Thinker & Tinkerer
Conor is a man on a Rhetorical
Journey*.

!
Conor is a teacher, serial
entrepreneur and keynote
speaker. He teaches
Leadership Communication at
IESE Business School, ranked
#1 in the World by FT in 2012.

!

A Publication of

MOVING
CN
PEOPLE TO
ACTION
http://cono.rs/idontknow

Conor has founded 4 companies,
raising capital, hiring teams and
reaching over €€10M in sales. He is
Past-European Area Director for
Entrepreneurs’ Organization, the
world’s leading community of
entrepreneurs.

!

PS What is a Rhetorical Journey?
*Click here

An extra note on Deliberate Ignorance vs Intuition
"I don't know" is not an excuse to not seek to discover, it is only an
opening up to greater wisdom.

!

If your second, third and fourth answers are also "I don't know" then you
might have an ignorance problem. This might be ok, but it could be
serious.

!

Do you Have an Ignorance Problem?
There are two types of ignorance: Deliberate Ignorance and
Understandable Ignorance.

!

Understandable Ignorance A non-financial expert is not expected to
know how to calculate discounted cash flow valuations for publicly
listed firms. A European is not expected to know how baseball scoring
works. A non-programmer is not expected to understand the syntax of
C++ or php code. These are cases of Understandable Ignorance.

!

!

Deliberate Ignorance If you work in marketing, you must know the
basics. If you work in finance, there are some basics that you must
know. If you are a programmer you must understand code syntax,
optimal code, unit test, system test. If you manage people, there are
some lessons you owe it to your team to know.

As Seth Godin says “People have come before us, failed, learned, written
it down. Scientists have figured out what works, and proven it.
Economists have gained significant understanding about the long-term
impacts of short-term decisions. And historians have seen it all before.”

!

It is not a company’s responsibility to ensure that you are aware of the
basic concepts and important developments in your field. It is your own.
(original source: http://conorneill.com/2011/07/11/deliberate-ignorance/)

!34

Keep Wonder Alive, Manifesto #idontknow

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