Metaskills- Five Talents for the Robotic Age

by Marty Neumeier

  I’m deeply indebted to a number of people who gave their time freely to help with some of the technical aspects of the book. Among them is Dr. Carolyn M. Bloomer, an anthropologist whose understanding of human evolution, psychology, and culture was critical to the accuracy of my argument. Also Dr. Paul Pangaro and Hugh Dubberly, who generously shared their cybernetics-eye view of how we think and learn. Thanks to Gene Bellinger, who was patient and supportive as he helped me shape my presentation of systems thinking. And, finally, Andy Vineyard, my go-to guy for everyday technology, who explained in delightful detail how plumbing works.

  I’m grateful to my publishing team at Peachpit, including Nancy Aldrich-Ruenzel, Michael Nolan, and Sara Jane Todd. This is our fourth book together in ten years, which speaks volumes about our working relationship.

  Many thanks to my team at Liquid Agency, who have been remarkably creative and encouraging in their support of the project. In particular, I’d like to call out Alfredo Muccino, Scott Gardner, Dennis Hahn, Mariah Rich, Bill Zabit, and Mark Shaw. Thanks also to those who helped bring the book into being with their excellent design skills, including Beryl Wang, Lisa Lin, Jameson Spence, Miles Ryan, Kelly Kusumoto, and Cya Nelson.

  I’m very fortunate to have an inner circle that includes Alina Wheeler, a fellow author who continually sends me links to articles and ideas she thinks I might find useful; Martin Lindstrom, another author who was generous with his trade secrets; my oldest friend, Paul Polito, who introduced me to the North County Trade Tech High School and who read through my first draft not once, but twice; my second-oldest friend, Gordon Mortensen, whose eye for design is second to none; Gary Peattie, valued in-law and seasoned book publisher; and my younger and wiser brother, Peter Neumeier, who offered sage advice on the flow of ideas.

  Finally, and with much love, I’d like to thank my wife Eileen, who encouraged me to write the book, and whose insights grace every page of it.

  NOTES

  PROLOGUE

  Southern France

  Hand stencils: The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World’s First Artists, by Gregory Curtis (Knopf, 2006).

  North America

  Watson on Jeopardy: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(computer)

  33 billion operations per second: “What Is Artificial Intelligence,” by Richard Powers, The New York Times, February 6, 2011.

  Massively parallel processing: “Can a Computer Win on Jeopardy?,” by Stephen Baker, The Wall Street Journal, February 5-6, 2011.

  TEN QUESTIONS

  Why do we create? The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World’s First Artists, by Gregory Curtis (Knopf, 2006).

  What is a human? “Androids to Bring Surrogates Closer to Reality,” by Tim Hornyak, CNET News, April 5, 2010, tinyurl.com/y8wgltc

  Why do we work? The Gardens of Democracy, by Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer (Sasquatch Books, 2011).

  What is a sin? “Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2010,” EPA (2011).

  What is beauty? “Runway to Poise or Problems?” by Karen Mansfield, Observer-Reporter (Washington and Greene Counties, Pennsylvania), January 26, 1997.

  Who will we worship? “The Celebrity 100”, Forbes, May 2012, www.forbes.com/profile/lady-gaga

  Who will we educate? “Student Protests Spread throughout Region,” Nation of Change, November 26, 2011, tinyurl.com/bvkh2ze

  How will we eat? From a personal conversation with designer Mitchell Mauk in 2012.

  Where will we live? “World Population,” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population

  What makes us happy? “Giant Smiley Indicates Mood,” Roos Bros., January 10, 2012, www.roosbros.com/?p=2830

  THE MANDATE

  The arc of human talent

  Extropy: “Principles of Extropy,” by Max More, www.extropy.org/principles.htm

  The hands of Homo erectus: The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture, by Frank R. Wilson (Vintage Books, 1999).

  Transhumanists: “Transhumanism: Toward a Futurist Philosophy,” by Max More, www.maxmore.com/transhum.htm (1990)

  The Singularity: The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, Ray Kurzweil (The Viking Press, 2005).

  Information has grown at 23% per year: “The World’s Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information,” by Martin Hilbert and Priscilla López, Science, February 10, 2011.

  Information increases tenfold every five years: The Economist, February 27, 2010.

  Five exobytes of information every two days: Think Quarterly, issue 02, from the introduction, July 23, 2011.

  Total amount of information is 1.27 zettabytes: The Economist, February 27, 2010.

  Every book every printed: “Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Unveils Kindle DX in New York,” by Chris Dannen, Fast Company, May 6, 2009.

  Self-awareness of computers: Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?, by Louis V. Gerstner (Collins, 2003).

  IBM’s cognitive computer chips: “IBM Announces Brainy Computer Chip,” The New York Times, by Steve Lohr, August 18, 2011.

  Technium: What Technology Wants, by Kevin Kelly (Penguin, 2011).

  iPod in 1961: conversation with Kurt Kwok, director of marketing for chip maker Applied Materials.

  28th doubling of computer power: Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies—and What It Means to Be Human, by Joel Garreau, (Doubleday, 2005).

  Law of Accelerating Returns: The Singularity Is Near, Kurzweil.

  Genes evolving 100 times faster: What Technology Wants, Kelly.

  Evolution as a play in four acts: Ibid.

  Heaven, hell, and prevail scenarios: Radical Evolution, Garreau.

  A long way from paintings on cavemen’s walls: “Michael Eisner,” interview by Alan Deutschman, The New York Times, December 2, 2010.

  The innovation mandate

  Information age: The Third Wave, by Alvin Toffler (Morrow, 1980).

  Paradigm shift: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas Kuhn (1970).

  Creative destruction: Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, by Joseph Schumpeter (1942).

  Innovation areas: “The Ten Types of Innovation,” from the Doblin Group, www.slideshare.net/markoh/doblin-ten-types-of-innovation-presentation

  They copied all they could follow: “The Mary Gloster,” by Rudyard Kipling (1896).

  Where are the jobs?

  Supply-side economics: The Gardens of Democracy, by Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer (Sasquatch Books, 2011).

  Horse-and-sparrow theory: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickle-down_economics

  Financial sector became the master instead of the servant: “The Limping Middle Class,” by Robert Reich, The New York Times, September 3, 2011.

  Consumer hourglass effect: “As Middle Class Shrinks, P&G Aims High and Low,” by Ellen Byron, The Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2011.

  The top one percent: That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back, by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2011).

  Universal opinion of economists: “With Prospect of U.S. Slowdown, Europe Fears a Worsening Debt Crisis,” by Steven Erlanger, The New York Times, August 7, 2011.

  American pay has only risen 6 percent: “The Limping Middle Class,” Reich.

  The Robot Curve

  IBM experiment led to WellPoint contract: “IBM Watson’s Next Job: WellPoint Health Insurance,” by Tom Murphy, The Huffington Post, September 12, 2011.

  First knowledge-industry workers to be put out of work: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(artificial_intelligence_software)

  Companies report difficulty in filling jobs: ManpowerGroup press release, May 19, 2011.

  Gap between workers and jobs: From an interview with Kathy Smith, HR Manager, Kaman Composites, 2011.

  A crisis of happiness

  Yardstick for progress: “Re
dfining What No. 1 Means,” by David J. Rothkopf, The New York Times, October 9, 2011.

  The Well-Being Index: “Discovered: The Happiest Man in America,” by Catherine Rampell, The New York Times, March 6, 2011.

  Making progress at meaningful work: The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer (Harvard Business Review, 2011).

  Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t interest me: “What’s Next? Steve Jobs’s Vision, So on Target at Apple, Now Is Falling Short,” by G. Pascal Zachary and Ken Yamada, The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 1993.

  Eudaimonia and self-actualization: “Our Imperfect Search for Perfection,” by Carina Chocano, The New York Times, March 18, 2011.

  The obsolete industrial brain

  I bought a bus and it sank: Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative, by Ken Robinson (Capstone, 1998).

  King Ammon and Theuth: Phaedrus, by Plato, translated by Harold N. Fowler (Harvard University Press, 1925).

  Unconscious memory of human experience: Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, by Carl G. Jung (1959).

  Three-brain model: The Triune Brain in Evolution: Role in Paleocerebral Functions, by Paul D. MacLean (Springer, 1990).

  Wanted: Metaskills

  Today’s robots are primitive: “In Search of a Robot More Like Us,” by John Markoff, The New York Times, September 11, 2011.

  Higher-level understanding: “In Pursuit of the Perfect Brainstorm,” by David Segal, The New York Times, December 16, 2010.

  Push harder on STEM subjects: “Why Education Without Creativity Isn’t Enough,” by Anya Kamenetz, Fast Company, September 14, 2011.

  Six drivers of change: “Future Work Skills 2020,” by The Institute of the Future on behalf of Apollo Research Institute, tinyurl.com/7b3orkw

  Congratulations, you’re a designer

  Wicked problems: coined by Horst Rittel in 1967, Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problem

  If you want to innovate, you have to design: The Designful Company: How to Build a Culture of Nonstop Innovation, by Marty Neumeier (New Riders, 2009).

  Design and design thinking: “Secrets of Design: Rebellion,” by Marty Neumeier, Critique: The Magazine of Design Thinking, issue 2 (Neumeier Design Team, 1996).

  Definition of a design: The Sciences of the Artificial, by Herbert Simon (MIT Press, 1969).

  Designers are in the miracle business: from a talk by Dr. Carl Hodges at the Ringling School of Art and Design, 2010.

  Design can bring back value: “Sustaining the Dream,” interview with James P. Hackett, president and CEO of Steelcase, by Maha Atal, BusinessWeek, October 4, 2007.

  Good design is serious business: “Delivering Delight,” by A.G. Lafley with Christine Canabou, Fast Company, June 1, 2004.

  The future in your hands

  Language was the turning point in human evolution: “Biography of Richard G. Klein,” by Erica Klarreich, www.pnas.org/content/101/16/5705.full

  Baby’s first words: Thought and Language, by Lev Vygotsky (MIT Press, 1986).

  Nouns as stones and verbs as pulleys: The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture, by Frank R. Wilson (Vintage, 1998).

  FEELING

  Brain surgery, self-taught

  Calculating feats of savants: “A Genius Explains,” by Richard Johnson, The Guardian, February 11, 2005.

  Allan Snyder, Centre for the Mind: Ibid.

  Cogito ergo sum vs. sentio ergo sum: Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness, by Nicholas Humphrey (Princeton University Press, 2011).

  Horse and rider: The Ego and the Id, Sigmund Freud (W.W. Norton, 1969).

  Purpose of the OFC: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbitofrontal_cortex

  A brain that can’t feel: How We Decide, by Johah Lehrer (Houghton Mifflin 2009).

  Accumulating wisdom through error: Ibid.

  Reflection-in-action: The Design Studio: An Exploration of Its Traditions and Potentials, by Donald Schön (1985).

  Mirror neurons: Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software, by Steven Johnson (Scribner, 2001).

  When the right brain goes wrong

  The limits of intuition: Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2011).

  Cognitive biases: Principles of Visual Perception, by Carolyn M. Bloomer (Design Press, 1990).

  The Stroop Test: “The Stroop Effect.” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroop_effect

  The magical mind

  Mental state of flow: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi (Harper, 2008).

  Consciousness as information: The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size, by Tor Nørretranders (Penguin, 1999).

  Evolutionary advantages of consciousness: Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness, by Nicholas Humphreys (Princeton University Press, 2011).

  Hard problem of consciousness: “Facing up to the Problem of Consciousness, by David Chalmers, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2(3): 200-19, 1995.

  Plato’s cave: “Allegory of the Cave,” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

  Cartesian model of consciousness: “Meditations on First Philosophy,” by Réne Descartes (1641).

  Leonardo’s assistant

  Butterfly effect: “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?,” a speech given by Edward Norton Lorenz to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, 1972.

  100,000 drawings and 13,000 pages of notes: The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance, by Fritjof Capra (Doubleday, 2007).

  Leonardo’s assistant: “Francesco Melzi,” by Cynthia Phillips Ph.D. and Shana Priwer, Netplaces, tinyurl.com/6wqqodn

  Fracture between art and science: The Science of Leonardo, by Fritjof Capra.

  Exile of emotion: Out of Our Minds, Ken Robinson.

  Factual knowledge was an invention: What Technology Wants, Kevin Kelly.

  Split between science and life: “Neurology and the Soul,” by Oliver Sacks, New York Review of Books, November 22, 1990.

  Codex Leicester: The Science of Leonardo, by Fritjof Capra.

  The uses of beauty

  Conceive yourself stripped of emotion: The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, by William James (Longman, Green, 1902).

  Way-it-should-be-ness: Connections: The Work of Charles and Ray Eames, with an essay by Ralph Caplan (UCLA Art Council, 1976).

  Optimal closure: From a personal conversation with Carolyn M. Bloomer in 2012.

  Mini spends one percent on design: Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life, and Maybe Even the World, by Warren Berger (Penguin, 2009).

  Most evolved things are beautiful: What Technology Wants, Kevin Kelly.

  Aesthetics for dummies

  Ten definitions of aesthetics: Which Aesthetics Do You Mean?, Leonard Koren (Imperfect Publishing, 2010).

  Universal or personal: The Principles of Aesthetics, by Henry Parker DeWitt (1923).

  Good taste is learned: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed: Educating for the Virtues of the 21st Century, by Howard Gardner (Basic Books, 2011).

  Primary illusions: “The primary illusions and the great orders of art,” by Susanne K. Langer, The Hudson Review, Summer, 1950.

  Difficulty of aesthetics: The Elements of Style, by William Strunk and E.B. White (Macmillan, 1959).

  Meaning and interpretation are at the heart of all creative processes: Out of Our Minds, Robinson.

  Satisficing: “Rational choice and the structure of the environment,” by Herbert Simon, Psychological Review, volume 63, number 2, 1956.

  It’s not business, it’s personal

  80/80 rule: from a talk by Oliver King of Engine Service Design (London), at DMI Remix, 2008.

  Brand as commercial reputation: The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design, Marty Neumeier (New R
iders, 2003).

  Brand momentum as a leading indicator: The Brand Bubble, by John Gerzema and Ed Lebar (Jossey-Bass, 2008).

  Zappos: “The Brand Bubble in the Digital Era,” an interview with John Gerzema by Gabriel Rossi, Slideshare, tinyurl.com/y9kggmq

  Starbucks: “A Changed Starbucks. A Changed CEO,” by Claire Cain Miller, The New York Times, March 13, 2011.

  Ryanair pricing: “Costs Out at All Costs,” by Todd Sattersten, Fixed to Flexible (ebook), March 29, 2010.

  They will only forget to do it once: “Prevent Nickel-and-Diming,” by Arthur Frommer, San Francisco Chronicle, October 18, 2009.

  Bags fly free: “Pushing 40, Southwest Is Still Playing the Rebel,” The New York Times, November 20, 2010.

  Nespresso: “Nestlé Stakes It’s Grounds in a European Coffee War,” by Christina Passariello, The Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2010.

  Innovative ideas are rarely rejected on their technical specs: The Myths of Innovation, by Scott Berkun (O’Reilly, 2007).

  Dirty towers on windswept plains: Glimmer, by Warren Berger.

  Katrina cottages: Ibid.

  Social skills: Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, by Daniel Goleman (Bantam, 1997).

  On what do you bias your opinion?

  Confirmation bias: “How to Ignore the Yes-man in Your Head,” by Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal, November 19, 2009.

  BlackBerry’s mental model: “RIM Loses Marketing Chief”, by Phred Dvorak and Stuart Weinberg, The Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2011.

  Giordano Bruno: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno

  We define first, then we see: “Defining the Facebook Deal,” by Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., The Wall Street Journal, January 15, 2011.

  Culture is not defined by what we argue about: The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World, by Lawrence Lessig (Random House, 2001).

  Replace beliefs with knowledge: The Big Questions: Tackling the Problems of Philosophy with Ideas from Mathematics, Economics, and Physics, by Steven Landsburg (Free Press, 2009).

  SEEING

  The tyranny of or

  Civilizations based on opposition face gridlock: The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction, by Rebecca Costa (Vanguard Press, 2010).

  Integrative thinkers: The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win through Integrative Thinking, by Roger Martin (Harvard Business School Press, 2007).