Stories Create Me

Can building houses that allow humans to live on Mars be the key to sustaining life on our planet? The need for sustainable housing has never been greater and not for interplanetary colonisation, but for supporting human life through climate change happening on our planet. In this conversation with Dr Natalie Rens, we explore how her work in creating sustainable houses for the new colonies being planned for the red planet could be the key to preserving life on our beautiful blue one. Dr Natalie Rens is a neuroscientist, artificial intelligence strategist, and space nerd. Natalie is the founder and CEO of Astreia, a startup building autonomous habitats for a sustainable future. Prior, she worked as the Artificial Intelligence Specialist for the Office of the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur, implementing strategies to advance AI capability in Queensland. She also built Queensland AI, an AI meetup with over 2,500 members. Natalie holds a PhD in Neuroscience, Master in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, and a Bachelor in Biomedical Science (honours). Natalie now works and lives in Austin, Texas in the USA. She plans to live on Mars next. Learn more about Dr Natalie Rens on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-natalie-rens/ Visit Astreia's site here - https://astreia.com/ Learn more about my work in Narrative Strategy at www.spendloveandlamb.com or visit www.storiescreate.me for more information on this podcast. Listen on iTunes - podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/stor…1437980600?mt=2 Stitcher - www.stitcher.com/podcast/megan-da…te-me?refid=stpr Google Play -play.google.com/music/listen?t=St…kgety3kpxjqezhaja

“Dramaturgically we live in such a film age where logic is so important to us, and a sense of A + B must equal C. Whereas the ways that Shakespeare put his plays together is much more open-ended. They are not about answers, they are full of ambiguity so each generation can find themselves in it because he doesn’t lock things down, he doesn’t seal them up.” – Peter Evans, Artist Director, Bell Shakespeare. In this episode I ask Peter Evans, does our desire for a conclusive ending stand in the way of our ability to truly interpret and make meaning in the world? Complexity is not a barrier, rather it is the jumping-off point to begin to understand problems. One of the masters of creating layers of complexity in stories was Shakespeare. In my conversation with Peter Evans, we peel back the layers of how to capture and examine the blurry grey areas, the place where we must venture if we ever hope to move the dial on complex societal problems. How does Shakespeare use tools like character to create meaning from complexity? And what role does empathy play in this process? We also look at the relationship between design thinking and creating a performance, there are some surprising similarities! Australian born and New Zealand raised Peter Evans was appointed Co-Artistic Director by Founding Artistic Director John Bell in 2012. He is the first person to share, and then take on in 2016, the Artistic Director title and duties since Bell Shakespeare was founded in 1990. Peter’s directing credits The Give and Take (Sydney Theatre Company); Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, King Lear, Copenhagen, Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Theatre Jamb at the Bondi Pavilion); Kiss of the Spiderwoman (Theatre Adami at the Stables) and The Dumb Waiter (Studio Company at Belvoir St Theatre). In 2010, Evans returned to Bell Shakespeare and has since directed new versions of Julius Caesar (2011), Macbeth (2012), Phèdre (2013), Tartuffe (2014), The Dream (2014), As You Like It (2015), Romeo And Juliet (2016), Othello (2016), Richard 3 (2017), Antony and Cleopatra (2018), The Miser (2019) and would have directed the 2020 productions of Hamlet and The Comedy of Errors if the productions would have gone ahead. Learn more about Peter Evan’s work with Bell Shakespeare here - www.bellshakespeare.com.au/our-story/t…are-family/ If you wish to make a charitable donation to Bell Shakespeare you can do so here - shop.bellshakespeare.com.au/donate/contribute1 Learn more about my work with narrative at www.spendloveandlamb.com or visit www.storiescreate.me for more information on this podcast. Listen on iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/stories-create-me/id1437980600?mt=2 Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/megan-davis/stories-create-me?refid=stpr  Google Play -https://play.google.com/music/listen?t=Stories_Create_Me&pcampaignid=MKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16&u=0&view=/ps/Iiujq7aodrkgety3kpxjqezhaja

John Bell, AO, OBE, founder of Bell Shakespeare, explains that prior to Shakespeare plays were constructed around well-known archetypes. An archetype is a typical example of a type of person who exists to fulfill a defined role. For example, a young innocent maiden’s archetypal role is to be saved by a brave hero, fall in love or marry a king. Shakespeare used a different method of telling stories. Rather than focus on the external roles and actions taken by a one-dimensional archetype, he created complex characters with internal conflicts. Where would human-centered design be without the Shakespearean concept of personality and character? Shakespeare's work is the foundation of being customer-centric. in 1990, Bell founded the theatre company Bell Shakespeare and has produced, among others, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Richard III, Pericles, Henry IV, Henry V, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, King Lear, and Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters. He is widely recognised as one of the foremost thinkers on Shakespeare in Australia and abroad. Learn more about John Bell on the Bell Shakespeare site - https://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/about-us/history/ Order and read his book, On Shakespeare - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13392603-on-shakespeare Learn more about my work with Characters for Personas here - http://spendloveandlamb.com/2020/03/11/be-audience-centric-be-shakespeare/

"Yes, it is good and bad," Steve Vallas is often asked if Blockchain technology is good or bad. And that is his standard answer. Privately Public or Publicly Private? In a future where we can privately verify public data or allow public access to anonymised private data will this transparency create more fairness? In other words, will justice finally become truly blind? Steve Vallas is a qualified lawyer who moved into the business strategy, digital marketing, and blockchain technology space. In this conversation, we explore how blockchain can create an ideal future where politics are transparent and justice is blind. We also look at the darker side of human nature and where blockchain can create the means to privacy that has never been available before. Steve works with businesses from startups to enterprise level to identify challenges, create strategic plans to meet business objectives and assist with implementation to fill resourcing gaps. To learn more about Steve Visit him on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevevallas/ or his website - https://www.honeydigital.com.au/ Check out this podcast and the storytelling and narrative strategies of Megan from Spendlove and Lamb here - https://www.spendloveandlamb.com/

Stay curious and you will transform the world. I talk with artist Dr. Betty Sargeant is the Creative Director and one half of artistic duo, PluginHUMAN. PluginHUMAN create immersive environments that provide audiences with hands-on interactive experiences. PluginHUMAN has an acute understanding of the role that technology plays in contemporary society. Their progressive works place people in the centre of a human to digital encounter. Dr Betty Sargeant is an award-winning media artist. She places audiences in the centre of multi-sensory installation experiences. Betty is the co-creative director of PluginHUMAN, an Australian art-technology duo. She has exhibited her work in Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. Visit the PluginHUMAN site here - https://pluginhuman.com/

In this month’s episode, I speak with Chief Storyteller of Detroit Aaron Foley about this work with the mayor’s office running a storytelling project called The Neighborhoods. His job is to capture the dynamic landscape of the people who make up the city of Detroit. Aaron Foley aims to bring together the diverse people in the rapidly changing city of Detroit and unite them through story. Aaron and his team look for the stories that are not being told. They find authentic stories to share with the world. Not to influence or shape the narratives, but to simply let them unfold. To pay homage to people who have contributed to the city he loves. Check out his work here - http://theneighborhoods.org/

I explore creativity and asking better questions with my guest Charbel Zeaiter, co-founder of Academy Xi. Academy Xi is training people in the skills of tomorrow today. We explore how curiosity, storytelling, and creativity become the building blocks for acquiring and maintaining skills that will open up a future where the engineers will all be poets and all of the poets will become engineers. If you would like to check out my work with narrative, check out my business www.spendloveandlamb.com Check out Academy Xi here - https://academyxi.com/

Is being ethical a process of being honest? Gordon Young, professional ethicist, says no. It is a process of building a good framework for making decisions. A good process for ethics is not black and white. Rather it creates space for asking better questions. Better questions lead to better decisions. Gordon steps me through a process of understanding how a decision-making framework might be flawed and how to build a better one. Learn more about Gordon’s work as a Principal at Ethilogical Professional Ethics Consulting via his website - https://ethilogical.com/

Is augmented reality the next evolution in the way we tell stories? I speak with artist Marc-o-matic about the future of this emerging storytelling platform. I ask him why he thinks we need to poke fun at ourselves to tell a good story and more. Join us, won't you? Be sure to check out Marc's website to learn more about his work - https://www.marcomatic.com/

Can Blockchain remove the cult of personality and spin from our current voting system? Listen to this month’s guest, Jamie Skella a winner of the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer award for his Blockchain voting system, MiVote. This world-first technology was listed 7 among 100 innovations that will change the world by The Australian. I ask Jamie Skella if the technology he is creating will create a new way for voters to think about how we elect leaders?

Big Brother and Little Sister work as a team to clean my Dad’s floors, these siblings are Roomba Robots. Not only has my father named this cleaning duo, he has created a relationship between them. In this episode I project a future where relationships with artificial intelligence and robots become commonplace. I ask Dr. John Flackett, PhD Artificial Intelligence, if one day human to artificial intelligence relationships will become so normal that we will form personal or love based relationships with them. I ask, if you can’t tell does it matter?