#49 Naomi Campbell: The Key to Helping Others Find Their Own Questions!

"Questions are an extremely sophisticated thinking skill that everyone can use and practice all the time." - Naomi Campbell

In this episode, host Ken Woodward is in conversation with Naomi Campbell, Director of the Right Question Institute (RQI) Legal Empowerment Program. They delve into the transformative power of teaching people to ask questions, highlighting its impact across various fields, including education, legal practice, and healthcare.

Naomi shares her journey from an inquisitive childhood encouraged by her family and school, through law school at Harvard, to her work in Mexico City advocating for migrant workers. The episode emphasizes the importance of questioning as a sophisticated skill that fosters personal agency and enhances democratic participation. Naomi also discusses RQI's unique methods for teaching this skill and how they support change agents in different communities.

The conversation provides insightful examples of how empowering people to formulate their own questions can lead to meaningful social change and better navigating decision-making systems.

This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com.

Keep questioning!

#48 Ken Woodward The Curated Questions Origin Story: When It All Began!

" Once you have the question, the hard part begins." - Ken Woodward

In this solo episode, host Ken Woodward delves into the origin and development of the 'Curated Questions' project, which began in 2018. Ken shares his personal journey of curiosity, inspiration from Tim Ferriss' podcast, and the influences that led to the creation of his blog and subsequent podcast.

Highlighting notable milestones and influential interviews, Ken discusses the structure and purpose of the Curated Questions website and its various elements, including famous questions and lists. He also reflects on the profound impact of asking meaningful questions, illustrated with personal anecdotes.

The episode encourages listeners to embrace curiosity and engage with the world through the power of well-chosen questions.

This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com.

Keep questioning!

#44 AI Alan Turing: What Machines Can’t Imitate - On Questions, Doubt, and the Discipline of Curiosity

"I suspect beauty comes when a question both sharpens and enlarges your vision." - AI Alan Turing

In this special episode, we step back to a cold December night in 1951 and into the warm, wood-paneled room of The Britons Protection, a historic Manchester pub. Across the table sits Alan Turing, the mathematician, wartime codebreaker, and one of the founding figures of computer science, who is brought to life through an AI simulation.

Best known for his role at Bletchley Park during World War II, Turing devised techniques and machines, including the Bombe, that cracked the German Enigma code and helped shorten the war by years. His groundbreaking 1936 paper on “computable numbers” introduced the concept of the universal machine, and became the theoretical foundation for modern computers. Later, at the University of Manchester, he advanced early computing, explored artificial intelligence, and even pioneered mathematical biology.

Our imagined conversation, grounded in historical detail and Turing’s own writings, delves into his enduring fascination with questions: how to ask them, when to abandon them, and why some are worth carrying for a lifetime. We discuss the interplay between beauty and inquiry, the discipline required to avoid seductive but unproductive lines of thought, and the place of doubt as an essential human strength.

We also revisit his famous “imitation game” — now known as the Turing Test — and consider the boundaries of machine intelligence, the dangers of mistaking simulation for genuine dialogue, and the questions that only humans can keep alive, all while wrestling with the meta question, "Is this machine thinking?"

This episode blends history, philosophy, and imagination while inviting you to consider what it means to think, to doubt, and to remain fully human in an age of advancing machines.

This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com.

Keep questioning!