ML168: Kevin Kelly on The Rise of Asia, The Art of Photography and Lessons from 40 Years of Travel

Kevin Kelly is the co-founder and editor at Wired magazine, and one of the world’s leading technologists. He’s the author of a number of bestselling books on technology, including What Technology Wants and The Inevitable and has recently launched Vanishing Asia, a photo-book documenting 40 years of Kevin’s travels in Asia.

Back in 1972, when Kevin started his travels, it was long before backpacking was common. All he had was his camera, a few lenses and a change of clothes and he was so blown away by the experience that he kept going back to Asia for the next 40 years, visiting over 35 countries.

While he enjoyed the full richness of these travel experiences, Kevin credits a lot of his career success to these experiences and what he was able to learn from them because by seeing that otherness, as he puts it, he became more aware about what was unique about himself.

So in this episode we discuss:

• Kevin’s lessons about the art of photography, the world and himself from 40 years of travelling around 35 countries in Asia
• What the rise of Asia and accelerating global convergence means for you and the world
• How to succeed in the industry of ideas and the current state of play in intellectual property

This was a wide ranging conversation with an incredible big picture thinker that will offer you powerful insights about travel, culture, technology, ideas and where the world is going. Most importantly, you’ll get perspective on how to discover your own unique attributes so you can live a better life and and capitalise on it for work.

Show Notes

• Introducing Kevin [00:37]
• With over 40 years of travel in 35 different countries, which places has Kevin returned to the most and why? [03:34]
• Why do people travel? Kevin shares his pursuit of ‘otherness’ [05:56]
• What are the different habits and behaviours that Kevin has picked up from the different cultures he was exposed to during his travels? [07:14]
• How does cultural convergence manifest in today’s world? How does this convergence help develop people’s self-actualisation? [10:31]
• What shift in the West and what advancements in Asian countries will further promote Asia as the century’s next world leader? [16:34]
• How do modernisation, demographics, and political frameworks affect the current position of power in the world?  [21:34]
• What is Kevin’s process when taking photographs and how has it changed since he started? [27:17]
• What should you look for when trying to capture the perfect photographs? [28:52]
• Why did Kevin decide to compile his 40 years of photography into a book? [32:13]
• How do different media carry meaning differently and how relevant are these individual media to the changing times? [33:42]
• Is there another way to think about ideas beyond the current conceptualisation of intellectual property? [36:46]
• With optimisation of otherness, what has Kevin learned about himself that gives him the sense of being unique? [41:47]
• Closing remarks [45:05]

Resources

Follow Kevin online

Website | YouTube | Kickstarter

• What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly
• The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly
• The Shallows by Nicholas G. Carr
• Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
• ML68: Kevin Kelly on The Nature of Technology, Building Learning Superpowers, and The Inevitable Forces Shaping The Future of Education