[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.00,0:00:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, here we go: a flyby of play.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.00,0:00:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's got to be serious if the New York Times
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.00,0:00:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,puts a cover story of their February 17th Sunday magazine about play.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.00,0:00:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At the bottom of this, it says, "It's deeper than gender.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.00,0:00:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Seriously, but dangerously fun.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.00,0:00:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And a sandbox for new ideas about evolution."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.00,0:00:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not bad, except if you look at that cover, what's missing?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.00,0:00:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You see any adults?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.00,0:00:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, lets go back to the 15th century.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.00,0:00:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a courtyard in Europe,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.00,0:00:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a mixture of 124 different kinds of play.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.00,0:00:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All ages, solo play, body play, games, taunting.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.00,0:00:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there it is. And I think this is a typical picture
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.00,0:01:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of what it was like in a courtyard then.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.00,0:01:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think we may have lost something in our culture.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.00,0:01:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I'm gonna take you through
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.00,0:01:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what I think is a remarkable sequence.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.00,0:01:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,North of Churchill, Manitoba, in October and November,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.00,0:01:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's no ice on Hudson Bay.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.00,0:01:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this polar bear that you see, this 1200-pound male,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.00,0:01:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he's wild and fairly hungry.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.00,0:01:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Norbert Rosing, a German photographer,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.00,0:01:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is there on scene, making a series of photos of these huskies, who are tethered.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.00,0:01:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And from out of stage left comes this wild, male polar bear,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.00,0:01:41.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with a predatory gaze.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:41.00,0:01:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Any of you who've been to Africa or had a junkyard dog come after you,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.00,0:01:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there is a fixed kind of predatory gaze
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.00,0:01:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that you know you're in trouble.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.00,0:01:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But on the other side of that predatory gaze
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.00,0:01:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a female husky in a play bow, wagging her tail.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.00,0:02:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And something very unusual happens.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.00,0:02:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That fixed behavior -- which is rigid and stereotyped
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.00,0:02:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and ends up with a meal -- changes.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.00,0:02:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this polar bear
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.00,0:02:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stands over the husky,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.00,0:02:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no claws extended, no fangs taking a look.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.00,0:02:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they begin an incredible ballet.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.00,0:02:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A play ballet.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.00,0:02:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is in nature: it overrides a carnivorous nature
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.00,0:02:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and what otherwise would have been a short fight to the death.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.00,0:02:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if you'll begin to look closely at the husky that's bearing her throat to the polar bear,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.00,0:02:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and look a little more closely, they're in an altered state.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.00,0:02:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're in a state of play.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.00,0:02:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's that state
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.00,0:02:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that allows these two creatures to explore the possible.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.00,0:02:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They are beginning to do something that neither would have done
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.00,0:03:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without the play signals.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.00,0:03:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it is a marvelous example
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.00,0:03:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of how a differential in power
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.00,0:03:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can be overridden by a process of nature that's within all of us.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:11.00,0:03:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now how did I get involved in this?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.00,0:03:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,John mentioned that I've done some work with murderers, and I have.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.00,0:03:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Texas Tower murderer opened my eyes,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.00,0:03:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in retrospect, when we studied his tragic mass murder,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.00,0:03:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the importance of play,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.00,0:03:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in that that individual, by deep study,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.00,0:03:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was found to have severe play deprivation.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.00,0:03:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Charles Whitman was his name.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.00,0:03:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And our committee, which consisted of a lot of hard scientists,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.00,0:03:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,did feel at the end of that study
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.00,0:03:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the absence of play and a progressive suppression of developmentally normal play
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.00,0:03:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,led him to be more vulnerable to the tragedy that he perpetrated.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.00,0:03:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that finding has stood the test of time --
Dialogue: 0,0:03:54.00,0:03:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,unfortunately even into more recent times, at Virginia Tech.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.00,0:04:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And other studies of populations at risk
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.00,0:04:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sensitized me to the importance of play,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.00,0:04:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I didn't really understand what it was.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.00,0:04:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it was many years in taking play histories of individuals
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.00,0:04:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before I really began to recognize that I didn't really have a full understanding of it.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:18.00,0:04:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I don't think any of us has a full understanding of it, by any means.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.00,0:04:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But there are ways of looking at it
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.00,0:04:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I think can give you -- give us all a taxonomy, a way of thinking about it.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:29.00,0:04:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this image is, for humans, the beginning point of play.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:34.00,0:04:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When that mother and infant lock eyes,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:37.00,0:04:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the infant's old enough to have a social smile,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.00,0:04:44.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what happens -- spontaneously -- is the eruption of joy on the part of the mother.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:44.00,0:04:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And she begins to babble and coo and smile, and so does the baby.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:48.00,0:04:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we've got them wired up with an electroencephalogram,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.00,0:04:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the right brain of each of them becomes attuned,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:57.00,0:05:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that the joyful emergence of this earliest of play scenes
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.00,0:05:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the physiology of that is something we're beginning to get a handle on.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:07.00,0:05:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I'd like you to think that every bit of more complex play
Dialogue: 0,0:05:11.00,0:05:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,builds on this base for us humans.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.00,0:05:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so now I'm going to take you through sort of a way of looking at play,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.00,0:05:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it's never just singularly one thing.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:23.00,0:05:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're going to look at body play,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:26.00,0:05:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is a spontaneous desire to get ourselves out of gravity.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:32.00,0:05:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a mountain goat.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:34.00,0:05:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you're having a bad day, try this:
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.00,0:05:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,jump up and down, wiggle around -- you're going to feel better.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:39.00,0:05:41.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you may feel like this character,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:41.00,0:05:44.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who is also just doing it for its own sake.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:44.00,0:05:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It doesn't have a particular purpose, and that's what's great about play.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:47.00,0:05:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If its purpose is more important
Dialogue: 0,0:05:50.00,0:05:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than the act of doing it, it's probably not play.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.00,0:05:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there's a whole other type of play, which is object play.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:57.00,0:06:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this Japanese macaque has made a snowball,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.00,0:06:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he or she's going to roll down a hill.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:03.00,0:06:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And -- they don't throw it at each other, but this is a fundamental part of being playful.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:07.00,0:06:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The human hand, in manipulation of objects,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:11.00,0:06:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the hand in search of a brain;
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.00,0:06:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the brain is in search of a hand;
Dialogue: 0,0:06:16.00,0:06:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and play is the medium by which those two are linked in the best way.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:21.00,0:06:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JPL we heard this morning -- JPL is an incredible place.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:27.00,0:06:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They have located two consultants,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:30.00,0:06:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Frank Wilson and Nate Johnson,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:33.00,0:06:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who are -- Frank Wilson is a neurologist, Nate Johnson is a mechanic.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:37.00,0:06:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He taught mechanics in a high school in Long Beach,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.00,0:06:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and found that his students were no longer able to solve problems.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:46.00,0:06:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he tried to figure out why. And he came to the conclusion, quite on his own,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.00,0:06:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the students who could no longer solve problems, such as fixing cars,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.00,0:06:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hadn't worked with their hands.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:55.00,0:06:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Frank Wilson had written a book called "The Hand."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.00,0:07:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They got together -- JPL hired them.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.00,0:07:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now JPL, NASA and Boeing,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:04.00,0:07:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before they will hire a research and development problem solver --
Dialogue: 0,0:07:07.00,0:07:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even if they're summa cum laude from Harvard or Cal Tech --
Dialogue: 0,0:07:11.00,0:07:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if they haven't fixed cars, haven't done stuff with their hands early in life,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:14.00,0:07:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,played with their hands, they can't problem-solve as well.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:17.00,0:07:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So play is practical, and it's very important.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:21.00,0:07:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now one of the things about play is that it is born by curiosity and exploration. (Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:07:27.00,0:07:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it has to be safe exploration.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:30.00,0:07:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This happens to be OK -- he's an anatomically interested little boy
Dialogue: 0,0:07:33.00,0:07:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's his mom. Other situations wouldn't be quite so good.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:37.00,0:07:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But curiosity, exploration, are part of the play scene.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:40.00,0:07:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you want to belong, you need social play.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:43.00,0:07:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And social play is part of what we're about here today,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:46.00,0:07:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and is a byproduct of the play scene.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:50.00,0:07:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rough and tumble play.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:52.00,0:07:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These lionesses, seen from a distance, looked like they were fighting.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:55.00,0:07:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But if you look closely, they're kind of like the polar bear and husky:
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.00,0:08:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no claws, flat fur, soft eyes,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:02.00,0:08:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,open mouth with no fangs, balletic movements,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:05.00,0:08:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,curvilinear movements -- all specific to play.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:08.00,0:08:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And rough-and-tumble play is a great learning medium for all of us.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:12.00,0:08:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Preschool kids, for example, should be allowed to dive, hit, whistle,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:16.00,0:08:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,scream, be chaotic, and develop through that a lot of emotional regulation
Dialogue: 0,0:08:23.00,0:08:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a lot of the other social byproducts -- cognitive, emotional and physical --
Dialogue: 0,0:08:28.00,0:08:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that come as a part of rough and tumble play.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:31.00,0:08:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Spectator play, ritual play -- we're involved in some of that.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:35.00,0:08:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Those of you who are from Boston know that this was the moment -- rare --
Dialogue: 0,0:08:39.00,0:08:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where the Red Sox won the World Series.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:43.00,0:08:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But take a look at the face and the body language of everybody
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.00,0:08:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in this fuzzy picture, and you can get a sense that they're all at play.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:50.00,0:08:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Imaginative play.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:51.00,0:08:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I love this picture because my daughter, who's now almost 40, is in this picture,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.00,0:09:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it reminds me of her storytelling and her imagination,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:00.00,0:09:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,her ability to spin yarns at this age -- preschool.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:05.00,0:09:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A really important part of being a player
Dialogue: 0,0:09:08.00,0:09:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is imaginative solo play.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:11.00,0:09:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I love this one, because it's also what we're about.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:15.00,0:09:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We all have an internal narrative that's our own inner story.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:19.00,0:09:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The unit of intelligibility of most of our brains is the story.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:24.00,0:09:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm telling you a story today about play.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:27.00,0:09:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, this bushman, I think, is talking about the fish that got away that was that long,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:32.00,0:09:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it's a fundamental part of the play scene.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:36.00,0:09:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So what does play do for the brain?
Dialogue: 0,0:09:39.00,0:09:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, a lot.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:42.00,0:09:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don't know a whole lot about what it does for the human brain,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:46.00,0:09:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because funding has not been exactly heavy for research on play.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:53.00,0:09:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I walked into the Carnegie asking for a grant.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:55.00,0:09:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They'd given me a large grant when I was an academician
Dialogue: 0,0:09:58.00,0:10:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the study of felony drunken drivers, and I thought I had a pretty good track record,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:03.00,0:10:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and by the time I had spent half an hour talking about play,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:08.00,0:10:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was obvious that they were not -- did not feel that play was serious.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:12.00,0:10:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that -- that's a few years back -- I think that wave is past,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:16.00,0:10:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the play wave is cresting,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:18.00,0:10:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because there is some good science.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:20.00,0:10:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nothing lights up the brain like play.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:23.00,0:10:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Three-dimensional play fires up the cerebellum,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:26.00,0:10:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,puts a lot of impulses into the frontal lobe --
Dialogue: 0,0:10:29.00,0:10:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the executive portion -- helps contextual memory be developed,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:33.00,0:10:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and -- and, and, and.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:35.00,0:10:41.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it's -- for me, its been an extremely nourishing scholarly adventure
Dialogue: 0,0:10:41.00,0:10:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to look at the neuroscience that's associated with play, and to bring together people
Dialogue: 0,0:10:46.00,0:10:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who in their individual disciplines hadn't really thought of it that way.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:51.00,0:10:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that's part of what the National Institute for Play is all about.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:54.00,0:10:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is one of the ways you can study play --
Dialogue: 0,0:10:56.00,0:11:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to get a 256-lead electroencephalogram.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:00.00,0:11:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm sorry I don't have a playful-looking subject, but it allows mobility,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:05.00,0:11:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which has limited the actual study of play.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:07.00,0:11:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we've got a mother-infant play scenario
Dialogue: 0,0:11:11.00,0:11:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we're hoping to complete underway at the moment.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:14.00,0:11:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The reason I put this here is also to queue up
Dialogue: 0,0:11:17.00,0:11:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my thoughts about objectifying what play does.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:21.00,0:11:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The animal world has objectified it.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:25.00,0:11:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the animal world, if you take rats,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:28.00,0:11:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who are hardwired to play at a certain period of their juvenile years
Dialogue: 0,0:11:34.00,0:11:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you suppress play -- they squeak, they wrestle,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:37.00,0:11:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they pin each other, that's part of their play.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:40.00,0:11:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you stop that behavior on one group that you're experimenting with,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:45.00,0:11:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you allow it in another group that you're experimenting with,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:48.00,0:11:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then you present those rats
Dialogue: 0,0:11:50.00,0:11:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with a cat odor-saturated collar,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:53.00,0:11:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're hardwired to flee and hide.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:56.00,0:11:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Pretty smart -- they don't want to get killed by a cat.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:59.00,0:12:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So what happens?
Dialogue: 0,0:12:01.00,0:12:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They both hide out.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:04.00,0:12:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The non-players never come out --
Dialogue: 0,0:12:07.00,0:12:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they die.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:08.00,0:12:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The players slowly explore the environment,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:12.00,0:12:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and begin again to test things out.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:15.00,0:12:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That says to me, at least in rats --
Dialogue: 0,0:12:18.00,0:12:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I think they have the same neurotransmitters that we do
Dialogue: 0,0:12:21.00,0:12:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a similar cortical architecture --
Dialogue: 0,0:12:23.00,0:12:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that play may be pretty important for our survival.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:26.00,0:12:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, and, and -- there are a lot more animal studies that I could talk about.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:31.00,0:12:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, this is a consequence of play deprivation. (Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:12:35.00,0:12:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This took a long time --
Dialogue: 0,0:12:37.00,0:12:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had to get Homer down and put him through the fMRI and the SPECT
Dialogue: 0,0:12:42.00,0:12:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and multiple EEGs, but as a couch potato, his brain has shrunk.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:46.00,0:12:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we do know that in domestic animals
Dialogue: 0,0:12:49.00,0:12:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and others, when they're play deprived,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:51.00,0:12:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they don't -- and rats also -- they don't develop a brain that is normal.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:56.00,0:13:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, the program says that the opposite of play is not work,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:01.00,0:13:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's depression.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:03.00,0:13:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think if you think about life without play --
Dialogue: 0,0:13:07.00,0:13:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no humor, no flirtation, no movies,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:10.00,0:13:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no games, no fantasy and, and, and.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:15.00,0:13:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Try and imagine a culture or a life, adult or otherwise
Dialogue: 0,0:13:20.00,0:13:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without play.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:22.00,0:13:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the thing that's so unique about our species
Dialogue: 0,0:13:25.00,0:13:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that we're really designed to play through our whole lifetime.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:30.00,0:13:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we all have capacity to play signal.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:33.00,0:13:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nobody misses that dog I took a picture of on a Carmel beach a couple of weeks ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:38.00,0:13:41.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What's going to follow from that behavior
Dialogue: 0,0:13:41.00,0:13:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is play.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:42.00,0:13:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you can trust it.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:43.00,0:13:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The basis of human trust is established through play signals.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:47.00,0:13:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we begin to lose those signals, culturally and otherwise, as adults.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:52.00,0:13:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's a shame.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:54.00,0:13:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think we've got a lot of learning to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:57.00,0:14:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, Jane Goodall has here a play face along with one of her favorite chimps.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:01.00,0:14:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So part of the signaling system of play
Dialogue: 0,0:14:04.00,0:14:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has to do with vocal, facial, body, gestural.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:08.00,0:14:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, you can tell -- and I think when we're getting into collective play,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:13.00,0:14:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,its really important for groups to gain a sense of safety
Dialogue: 0,0:14:17.00,0:14:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through their own sharing of play signals.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:21.00,0:14:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You may not know this word,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:23.00,0:14:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it should be your biological first name and last name.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:28.00,0:14:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because neoteny means the retention of immature qualities into adulthood.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:32.00,0:14:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we are, by physical anthropologists,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:35.00,0:14:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by many, many studies, the most neotenous,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:38.00,0:14:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the most youthful, the most flexible, the most plastic of all creatures.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:43.00,0:14:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And therefore, the most playful.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:46.00,0:14:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this gives us a leg up on adaptability.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:50.00,0:14:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, there is a way of looking at play
Dialogue: 0,0:14:53.00,0:14:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I also want to emphasize here,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:56.00,0:14:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is the play history.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:59.00,0:15:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your own personal play history is unique,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:02.00,0:15:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and often is not something we think about particularly.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:06.00,0:15:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a book written by a consummate player
Dialogue: 0,0:15:09.00,0:15:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by the name of Kevin Carroll.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:11.00,0:15:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Kevin Carroll came from extremely deprived circumstances:
Dialogue: 0,0:15:16.00,0:15:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,alcoholic mother, absent father, inner-city Philadelphia,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:20.00,0:15:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,black, had to take care of a younger brother.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:23.00,0:15:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Found that when he looked at a playground
Dialogue: 0,0:15:26.00,0:15:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,out of a window into which he had been confined,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:29.00,0:15:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he felt something different.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:31.00,0:15:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so he followed up on it.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:34.00,0:15:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And his life -- the transformation of his life
Dialogue: 0,0:15:37.00,0:15:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from deprivation and what one would expect -- potentially prison or death --
Dialogue: 0,0:15:42.00,0:15:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he become a linguist, a trainer for the 76ers and now is a motivational speaker.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:48.00,0:15:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he gives play as a transformative force
Dialogue: 0,0:15:53.00,0:15:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over his entire life.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:56.00,0:16:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now there's another play history that I think is a work in progress.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:03.00,0:16:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Those of you who remember Al Gore,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:06.00,0:16:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,during the first term and then during his successful
Dialogue: 0,0:16:11.00,0:16:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but unelected run for the presidency,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:14.00,0:16:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,may remember him as being kind of wooden and not entirely his own person,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:19.00,0:16:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at least in public.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:21.00,0:16:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And looking at his history, which is common in the press,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:25.00,0:16:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it seems to me, at least -- looking at it from a shrink's point of view --
Dialogue: 0,0:16:31.00,0:16:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that a lot of his life was programmed.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:36.00,0:16:41.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Summers were hard, hard work, in the heat of Tennessee summers.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:42.00,0:16:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He had the expectations of his senatorial father and Washington, D.C.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:48.00,0:16:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And although I think he certainly had the capacity for play --
Dialogue: 0,0:16:51.00,0:16:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I do know something about that --
Dialogue: 0,0:16:53.00,0:16:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he wasn't as empowered, I think, as he now is
Dialogue: 0,0:16:57.00,0:17:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by paying attention to what is his own passion
Dialogue: 0,0:17:01.00,0:17:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and his own inner drive,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:04.00,0:17:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which I think has its basis in all of us in our play history.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:09.00,0:17:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So what I would encourage on an individual level to do,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:12.00,0:17:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to explore backwards as far as you can go
Dialogue: 0,0:17:16.00,0:17:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the most clear, joyful, playful image that you have,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:21.00,0:17:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether it's with a toy, on a birthday or on a vacation.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:24.00,0:17:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And begin to build to build from the emotion of that
Dialogue: 0,0:17:27.00,0:17:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into how that connects with your life now.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:30.00,0:17:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you'll find, you may change jobs --
Dialogue: 0,0:17:33.00,0:17:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which has happened to a number people when I've had them do this --
Dialogue: 0,0:17:36.00,0:17:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in order to be more empowered through their play.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:39.00,0:17:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or you'll be able to enrich your life by prioritizing it
Dialogue: 0,0:17:43.00,0:17:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and paying attention to it.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:45.00,0:17:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most of us work with groups, and I put this up because
Dialogue: 0,0:17:48.00,0:17:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the d.school, the design school at Stanford,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:51.00,0:17:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thanks to David Kelley and a lot of others
Dialogue: 0,0:17:54.00,0:17:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who have been visionary about its establishment,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:57.00,0:17:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has allowed a group of us to get together
Dialogue: 0,0:17:59.00,0:18:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and create a course called "From Play to Innovation."
Dialogue: 0,0:18:03.00,0:18:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you'll see this course is to investigate
Dialogue: 0,0:18:06.00,0:18:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the human state of play, which is kind of like the polar bear-husky state
Dialogue: 0,0:18:10.00,0:18:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and its importance to creative thinking:
Dialogue: 0,0:18:12.00,0:18:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"to explore play behavior, its development and its biological basis;
Dialogue: 0,0:18:15.00,0:18:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to apply those principles, through design thinking,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:18.00,0:18:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to promote innovation in the corporate world;
Dialogue: 0,0:18:20.00,0:18:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the students will work with real-world partners
Dialogue: 0,0:18:23.00,0:18:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on design projects with widespread application."
Dialogue: 0,0:18:26.00,0:18:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is our maiden voyage in this.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:28.00,0:18:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're about two and a half, three months into it, and it's really been fun.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:32.00,0:18:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is our star pupil, this labrador,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:35.00,0:18:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who taught a lot of us what a state of play is,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:39.00,0:18:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and an extremely aged and decrepit professor in charge there.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:43.00,0:18:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Brendan Boyle, Rich Crandall -- and on the far right is, I think, a person who
Dialogue: 0,0:18:48.00,0:18:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will be in cahoots with George Smoot for a Nobel Prize -- Stuart Thompson,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:53.00,0:18:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in neuroscience.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:54.00,0:18:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we've had Brendan, who's from IDEO,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:56.00,0:19:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the rest of us sitting aside and watching these students
Dialogue: 0,0:19:00.00,0:19:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as they put play principles into practice in the classroom.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:06.00,0:19:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And one of their projects was to
Dialogue: 0,0:19:10.00,0:19:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,see what makes meetings boring,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:13.00,0:19:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to try and do something about it.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:16.00,0:19:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So what will follow is a student-made film
Dialogue: 0,0:19:20.00,0:19:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about just that.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:23.00,0:19:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Narrator: Flow is the mental state of apparition
Dialogue: 0,0:19:27.00,0:19:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:30.00,0:19:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Characterized by a feeling of energized focus,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:33.00,0:19:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,full involvement and success in the process of the activity.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:40.00,0:19:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,An important key insight that we learned about meetings
Dialogue: 0,0:19:43.00,0:19:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that people pack them in one after another,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:46.00,0:19:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disruptive to the day.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:48.00,0:19:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Attendees at meetings don't know when they'll get back to the task
Dialogue: 0,0:19:51.00,0:19:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that they left at their desk.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:53.00,0:19:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it doesn't have to be that way.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:56.00,0:20:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Music)
Dialogue: 0,0:20:49.00,0:20:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some sage and repeatedly furry monks
Dialogue: 0,0:20:52.00,0:20:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at this place called the d.school
Dialogue: 0,0:20:54.00,0:20:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,designed a meeting that you can literally step out of when it's over.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:59.00,0:21:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Take the meeting off, and have peace of mind that you can come back to me.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:04.00,0:21:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because when you need it again,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:06.00,0:21:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the meeting is literally hanging in your closet.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:12.00,0:21:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Wearable Meeting.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:14.00,0:21:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because when you put it on, you immediately get everything you need
Dialogue: 0,0:21:18.00,0:21:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to have a fun and productive and useful meeting.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:21.00,0:21:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But when you take it off --
Dialogue: 0,0:21:24.00,0:21:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's when the real action happens.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:26.00,0:21:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Music)
Dialogue: 0,0:21:32.00,0:21:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) (Applause)
Dialogue: 0,0:21:35.00,0:21:38.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Stuart Brown: So I would encourage you all
Dialogue: 0,0:21:41.00,0:21:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to engage
Dialogue: 0,0:21:43.00,0:21:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not in the work-play differential --
Dialogue: 0,0:21:46.00,0:21:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where you set aside time to play --
Dialogue: 0,0:21:49.00,0:21:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but where your life becomes infused
Dialogue: 0,0:21:52.00,0:21:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,minute by minute, hour by hour,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:56.00,0:21:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with body,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:58.00,0:22:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,object,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:00.00,0:22:05.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,social, fantasy, transformational kinds of play.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:05.00,0:22:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think you'll have a better and more empowered life.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:09.00,0:22:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank You.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:11.00,0:22:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)
Dialogue: 0,0:22:18.00,0:22:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,John Hockenberry: So it sounds to me like what you're saying is that
Dialogue: 0,0:22:21.00,0:22:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there may be some temptation on the part of people to look at your work
Dialogue: 0,0:22:25.00,0:22:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and go --
Dialogue: 0,0:22:27.00,0:22:32.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think I've heard this, in my kind of pop psychological understanding of play,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:32.00,0:22:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that somehow,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:34.00,0:22:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the way animals and humans deal with play,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:37.00,0:22:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that it's some sort of rehearsal for adult activity.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:40.00,0:22:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your work seems to suggest that that is powerfully wrong.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:43.00,0:22:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SB: Yeah, I don't think that's accurate,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:46.00,0:22:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I think probably because animals have taught us that.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:49.00,0:22:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you stop a cat from playing --
Dialogue: 0,0:22:53.00,0:22:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which you can do, and we've all seen how cats bat around stuff --
Dialogue: 0,0:22:57.00,0:23:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're just as good predators as they would be if they hadn't played.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:02.00,0:23:04.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if you imagine a kid
Dialogue: 0,0:23:04.00,0:23:07.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pretending to be King Kong,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:07.00,0:23:10.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or a race car driver, or a fireman,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:10.00,0:23:13.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they don't all become race car drivers or firemen, you know.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:14.00,0:23:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So there's a disconnect between preparation for the future --
Dialogue: 0,0:23:19.00,0:23:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is what most people are comfortable in thinking about play as --
Dialogue: 0,0:23:22.00,0:23:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and thinking of it as a separate biological entity.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:26.00,0:23:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is where my chasing animals for four, five years
Dialogue: 0,0:23:31.00,0:23:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really changed my perspective from a clinician to what I am now,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:36.00,0:23:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is that play has a biological place,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:40.00,0:23:43.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just like sleep and dreams do.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:43.00,0:23:48.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if you look at sleep and dreams biologically,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:48.00,0:23:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,animals sleep and dream,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:50.00,0:23:53.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they rehearse and they do some other things that help memory
Dialogue: 0,0:23:53.00,0:23:56.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that are a very important part of sleep and dreams.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:56.00,0:23:59.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The next step of evolution in mammals and
Dialogue: 0,0:23:59.00,0:24:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,creatures with divinely superfluous neurons
Dialogue: 0,0:24:03.00,0:24:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will be to play.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:06.00,0:24:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the fact that the polar bear and husky or magpie and a bear
Dialogue: 0,0:24:09.00,0:24:15.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or you and I and our dogs can crossover and have that experience
Dialogue: 0,0:24:15.00,0:24:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sets play aside as something separate.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:18.00,0:24:22.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And its hugely important in learning and crafting the brain.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:22.00,0:24:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it's not just something you do in your spare time.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:25.00,0:24:28.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JH: How do you keep -- and I know you're part of the scientific research community,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:28.00,0:24:33.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you have to justify your existence with grants and proposals like everyone else --
Dialogue: 0,0:24:33.00,0:24:35.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how do you prevent --
Dialogue: 0,0:24:35.00,0:24:41.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and some of the data that you've produced, the good science that you're talking about you've produced, is hot to handle.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:41.00,0:24:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How do you prevent either the media's interpretation of your work
Dialogue: 0,0:24:45.00,0:24:51.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or the scientific community's interpretation of the implications of your work,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:51.00,0:24:54.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,kind of like the Mozart metaphor,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:54.00,0:24:57.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where, "Oh, MRIs show
Dialogue: 0,0:24:57.00,0:25:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that play enhances your intelligence.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:00.00,0:25:02.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, let's round these kids up, put them in pens
Dialogue: 0,0:25:02.00,0:25:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and make them play for months at a time; they'll all be geniuses and go to Harvard."
Dialogue: 0,0:25:06.00,0:25:09.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How do you prevent people from taking that sort of action
Dialogue: 0,0:25:09.00,0:25:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the data that you're developing?
Dialogue: 0,0:25:11.00,0:25:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,SB: Well, I think the only way I know to do it
Dialogue: 0,0:25:14.00,0:25:17.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to have accumulated the advisers that I have
Dialogue: 0,0:25:17.00,0:25:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who go from practitioners --
Dialogue: 0,0:25:19.00,0:25:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who can establish through improvisational play or clowning or whatever --
Dialogue: 0,0:25:23.00,0:25:25.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a state of play.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:25.00,0:25:27.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So people know that it's there.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:27.00,0:25:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then you get an fMRI specialist, and you get Frank Wilson,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:31.00,0:25:36.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you get other kinds of hard scientists, including neuroendocrinologists.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:36.00,0:25:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you get them into a group together focused on play,
Dialogue: 0,0:25:42.00,0:25:46.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's pretty hard not to take it seriously.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:46.00,0:25:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Unfortunately, that hasn't been done sufficiently
Dialogue: 0,0:25:49.00,0:25:52.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health
Dialogue: 0,0:25:52.00,0:25:55.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or anybody else to really look at it in this way seriously.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:55.00,0:26:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean you don't hear about anything that's like cancer or heart disease
Dialogue: 0,0:26:01.00,0:26:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,associated with play.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:03.00,0:26:08.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet I see it as something that's just as basic for survival -- long term --
Dialogue: 0,0:26:08.00,0:26:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as learning some of the basic things about public health.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:12.00,0:26:14.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JH: Stuart Brown, thank you very much.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:14.00,0:26:16.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)