Polymath Power with Michael Araki

Join us here: https://www.meetup.com/52LivingIdeas/... for Daily Zoom Meetups like this one.

Polymath Power: Breaking limitations of disciplinary thinking by Michael Araki | Comprehensivists

People are increasingly unhappy with the idea of spending life as a fixed cog in a machine structured by somebody else. In this context, creativity, innovation and connectedness appear as important elements for a more fulfilling life. In this talk, I present the concept of polymathy not only as the acquisition of knowledge and learning in multiple domains but also as a worldview that can enable us to go beyond the narrowness of current disciplinary, siloed thinking. First, I underscore the importance of polymathic thinking in our increasingly noisy, VUCA world. Next, I explore how polymathy lies at the heart of creativity and innovation, being an important tool to solve problems--big and small--at the societal and at the individual levels. After that, I discuss the overlooked differentiation between the field (the current gatekeepers of knowledge) and knowledge itself. After that, I present some recent findings regarding the measurement and neuroscience of polymathy. Finally, I conclude with possible paths to utilize polymathic thinking to advance understanding regarding ourselves and our world.

Michael Araki’s research interests include entrepreneurship, behavior under uncertainty and polymathy studies. He asks: How people acquire knowledge and utilize their resources and opportunities to produce novel and effective solutions--for themselves, their organizations, and the world? Because of the interdisciplinary nature of these questions, I have developed expertise in different fields such as economics, psychology, entrepreneurship, creativity, polymathy studies, governance and finance.

****
Welcome to the series "Comprehensivist Wednesdays". Transdisciplinarity, Renaissance humanism, homo universalis, and Polymathy are some of the ways of describing this approach which Buckminster Fuller called Comprehensivity and described as “macro-comprehensive and micro-incisive”.