0:00:13.309,0:00:15.648
Well, it's really great to be here today,

0:00:16.188,0:00:18.949
but I want to talk about[br]different ways that people think,

0:00:18.949,0:00:23.357
and one of the first steps is realizing[br]that different kinds of thinking exist.

0:00:23.357,0:00:26.997
Another thing I want to challenge[br]the educational system with

0:00:26.997,0:00:29.822
is there were some[br]really great minds in the past,

0:00:29.822,0:00:31.721
and what would have happened to them

0:00:31.721,0:00:35.516
if they were in today's[br]educational system?

0:00:35.516,0:00:39.375
What would have happened[br]to Michelangelo today, Beethoven today?

0:00:39.375,0:00:41.809
Thomas Edison? A lot of people?

0:00:41.809,0:00:43.678
What would happen to them?

0:00:43.678,0:00:46.644
OK, we're all familiar[br]with Michelangelo's art.

0:00:46.644,0:00:51.223
And there's been a book written[br]about Michelangelo by one of his students.

0:00:51.223,0:00:53.317
It's been translated into English.

0:00:53.317,0:00:55.110
And he was a lousy student.

0:00:55.110,0:00:57.182
He dropped out of school at age 12.

0:00:57.182,0:00:58.584
That's 6th grade -

0:00:58.584,0:01:01.250
6th grade high school dropout.

0:01:01.250,0:01:03.466
That's Michelangelo.

0:01:03.826,0:01:07.496
And his father hated art,[br]said that he didn't consider it "learned."

0:01:07.496,0:01:10.295
He wanted him to grow up[br]and write legal documents.

0:01:10.295,0:01:11.937
Yuck![br](Laughter)

0:01:11.937,0:01:13.749
Now, fortunately,

0:01:13.749,0:01:18.353
he was raised in a situation where[br]they had access to stonecutter tools.

0:01:18.353,0:01:19.888
So he had some exposure to it.

0:01:19.888,0:01:23.110
All the churches[br]were doing all kinds of art.

0:01:23.110,0:01:25.520
So he grew up with exposure to it.

0:01:25.520,0:01:27.575
This brings up another[br]very important thing:

0:01:27.575,0:01:30.235
how do students[br]get interested in something?

0:01:30.235,0:01:31.465
They get exposed.

0:01:31.465,0:01:33.059
I ended up in the cattle industry

0:01:33.059,0:01:36.207
because I was exposed to it[br]when I was 15 years old.

0:01:36.207,0:01:37.412
How about Beethoven?

0:01:37.412,0:01:41.093
He had great accomplishment,[br]but a lot of adversity,

0:01:41.093,0:01:44.982
and he wrote his greatest works[br]when he was half deaf,

0:01:44.982,0:01:49.265
and all the way stone-deaf,[br]and he couldn't perform anymore.

0:01:49.659,0:01:52.421
And we're still playing his music today.

0:01:52.949,0:01:57.067
In fact, he had a piano company build[br]a special device to go on the piano

0:01:57.067,0:01:58.104
to help him to hear.

0:01:58.104,0:02:01.943
And this is a reproduction of the device[br]made by the Orpheus Institute.

0:02:01.943,0:02:05.266
But he wanted to accomplish things.

0:02:05.986,0:02:09.301
Okay, this is one[br]of my most important slides:

0:02:09.301,0:02:11.921
the different kinds of minds.

0:02:12.301,0:02:15.519
I'm a photorealistic, visual thinker,[br]an object visualizer.

0:02:15.519,0:02:17.975
And you know what? I can't do algebra!

0:02:17.975,0:02:20.535
And I'd be screened out[br]of today's educational system.

0:02:20.535,0:02:22.806
I do talks all over[br]the country on education,

0:02:22.806,0:02:25.991
I'm talking to high school kids[br]that can't graduate from high school

0:02:25.991,0:02:27.256
if you can't do algebra.

0:02:27.256,0:02:29.366
If I'm going to be a chemist,[br]I need algebra,

0:02:29.366,0:02:32.439
but for a lot of things you don't,[br]and we need visual thinkers.

0:02:32.439,0:02:35.433
We need visual thinkers to solve problems.

0:02:35.433,0:02:37.911
Another kind of mind[br]is the mathematical mind,

0:02:37.911,0:02:39.691
a pattern thinker.

0:02:40.298,0:02:43.355
They think more mathematically.[br]They don't think in pictures.

0:02:43.355,0:02:45.355
And then you have the verbal facts people.

0:02:45.355,0:02:48.919
Now let's look at how the different kinds[br]of minds approach problem-solving.

0:02:48.919,0:02:51.480
Visual thinkers are bottom-up thinkers.

0:02:51.480,0:02:54.312
Concepts are learned[br]with specific examples.

0:02:54.312,0:02:56.324
I've done a lot of work[br]on improving things

0:02:56.324,0:02:57.625
in the livestock industry.

0:02:57.625,0:02:59.703
But it was something specific.

0:02:59.703,0:03:02.759
It wasn't vague and abstract.

0:03:03.235,0:03:05.761
A lot of verbal thinking[br]on a lot of different issues,

0:03:05.761,0:03:07.561
it gets very abstract.

0:03:07.561,0:03:10.671
I've got to have an issue[br]that I can really put my head around,

0:03:10.671,0:03:12.569
so I can do something about it.

0:03:12.569,0:03:16.277
But the first step is we've got to realize[br]these different thinkers exist.

0:03:16.277,0:03:19.943
The skills can complement each other!

0:03:19.943,0:03:23.297
Think about the iPhone -[br]Steve Jobs was an artist!

0:03:23.567,0:03:25.704
That's why your phone is easy to use.

0:03:25.704,0:03:29.116
The mathematicians[br]had to make it actually work.

0:03:29.996,0:03:31.888
And I've had some brain scans,

0:03:31.888,0:03:35.481
and I've found out that I've got[br]some big visual thinking circuits!

0:03:35.911,0:03:38.861
And this shows my lack of working memory.

0:03:38.861,0:03:41.296
So what am I doing[br]with this piece of paper up here?

0:03:41.296,0:03:44.471
This is my external working memory.

0:03:44.471,0:03:46.351
Because I don't have working memory.

0:03:46.351,0:03:48.148
It's all full of water.

0:03:48.148,0:03:49.768
In fact,

0:03:49.768,0:03:51.517
if I was a computer,

0:03:51.517,0:03:54.117
I've got the Amazon cloud[br]or the Microsoft cloud,

0:03:54.117,0:03:57.415
the Google cloud,[br]whichever cloud you like the best,

0:03:57.415,0:03:58.665
for graphics files,

0:03:58.665,0:04:01.074
huge memory for graphics files.

0:04:01.074,0:04:03.958
If I can convert it[br]to a graphics file, I remember it.

0:04:03.958,0:04:09.452
But I'm only a 286, or a one-bar phone,[br]when it comes to working memory.

0:04:11.472,0:04:16.290
So that's why I have these notes here -[br]because it's my external working memory.

0:04:17.151,0:04:20.242
Now, how do you figure out in kids[br]what kind of thinker you are?

0:04:20.242,0:04:23.944
Visual thinkers are good at art,[br]mechanical things.

0:04:24.364,0:04:26.088
I was good at photography.

0:04:26.088,0:04:28.682
And this will show up in 2nd or 3rd grade.

0:04:28.682,0:04:31.197
Mathematical thinkers[br]will be good at math.

0:04:31.197,0:04:33.223
And one of the big[br]mistakes that's made

0:04:33.223,0:04:35.081
is they're giving the kids baby math,

0:04:35.081,0:04:37.238
and so the math ability[br]doesn't get developed.

0:04:37.238,0:04:40.342
Another thing about some of these kids[br]that are super good at math

0:04:40.342,0:04:41.692
is they do it in their head.

0:04:41.692,0:04:43.890
Don't make them verbally show their work.

0:04:43.890,0:04:46.208
That's not how they think.

0:04:46.208,0:04:49.264
We've got a big shortage right now[br]of computer coders.

0:04:49.264,0:04:52.682
Well, maybe computer coding[br]needs to be introduced to third graders.

0:04:53.232,0:04:56.282
And then there are verbal thinkers,[br]who love history, love facts.

0:04:56.282,0:04:59.689
Verbal thinkers, I need them[br]to make my things more linear.

0:04:59.689,0:05:01.809
Many of my books have co-authors,

0:05:01.809,0:05:04.032
because a visual thinker[br]tends to be scattered,

0:05:04.032,0:05:07.113
so I need a verbal thinker[br]to make the book more linear.

0:05:07.113,0:05:09.426
See, that's the different kinds of minds

0:05:09.426,0:05:10.881
working together.

0:05:11.476,0:05:13.485
Now I want to talk[br]about the space program.

0:05:13.485,0:05:15.053
I always loved the space program.

0:05:15.053,0:05:17.452
It was the greatest achievement[br]of my generation.

0:05:17.452,0:05:20.366
And there's now people[br]that were mission-critical

0:05:20.366,0:05:23.524
that are now getting recognized.

0:05:24.429,0:05:28.159
And I was very emotional to go down[br]and visit the Vehicle Assembly Building.

0:05:28.159,0:05:30.070
I just loved doing that.

0:05:30.070,0:05:33.219
There was a guy named Hal[br]who did algebra equations,

0:05:33.219,0:05:35.522
algebra equations for fun,

0:05:35.522,0:05:37.949
in a reclusive and messy office.

0:05:37.949,0:05:40.035
He admitted he didn't do any of the work,

0:05:40.035,0:05:44.832
but without his equations,[br]the lunar landing would not have worked.

0:05:44.832,0:05:46.784
He was mission-critical.

0:05:46.784,0:05:49.252
Katherine Johnson, the mathematician -

0:05:49.592,0:05:52.781
and she finally got recognized.

0:05:52.781,0:05:58.006
Her mathematics for calculating orbits[br]was absolutely essential.

0:05:58.476,0:06:01.437
Now we've got to give[br]some ladies credits here.

0:06:01.437,0:06:04.893
The Playtex Corporation[br]made the space suit.

0:06:05.193,0:06:08.923
Four of the finest[br]bra seamstresses sewed it,

0:06:08.923,0:06:11.724
and their boss was a TV repairman.

0:06:11.724,0:06:16.074
This was probably not[br]the mathematics department here.

0:06:16.544,0:06:19.468
But the space suit[br]was super mission-critical.

0:06:21.198,0:06:24.627
When I went and visited Cape Kennedy[br]two and a half years ago,

0:06:24.627,0:06:27.571
I found out maybe the right stuff[br]rides to the moon,

0:06:27.571,0:06:31.102
but the geeks and the misfits and the kids[br]with labels build the stuff.

0:06:31.102,0:06:32.158
(Laughter)

0:06:32.158,0:06:35.022
I spent 25 years in construction,

0:06:35.022,0:06:37.091
and I've worked with skilled trades people

0:06:37.091,0:06:41.892
that today would be diagnosed[br]as autistic, dyslexic or ADHD.

0:06:42.219,0:06:43.505
So where's that kid today?

0:06:43.505,0:06:45.613
Probably playing video games[br]in the basement

0:06:45.613,0:06:49.012
because nobody thought to let him play[br]with tools when he was little.

0:06:49.364,0:06:55.142
Also, one of the people that worked[br]on this launchpad had Tourette syndrome.

0:06:55.142,0:06:57.826
Now, this brings up[br]an important thing about identity.

0:06:57.826,0:07:00.634
Autism is an important part of who I am,

0:07:00.924,0:07:03.766
but career comes first.

0:07:04.041,0:07:05.557
And people ask me all the time,

0:07:05.557,0:07:08.360
"Was it really hard,[br]as a person with autism,

0:07:08.360,0:07:09.913
to go into the cattle industry?"

0:07:09.913,0:07:11.518
Nope, back in the '70s,

0:07:11.518,0:07:15.734
being a girl was a bigger barrier[br]than autism could ever be!

0:07:15.734,0:07:17.131
(Laughter)

0:07:17.131,0:07:20.480
And they really did put[br]bull testicles on my vehicle.

0:07:20.480,0:07:22.247
That scene happened.

0:07:22.247,0:07:26.033
And another thing in the movie[br]that's totally true is visual thinking.

0:07:26.033,0:07:27.568
It shows that accurately.

0:07:27.568,0:07:31.329
Now, my grandfather was the co-inventor[br]of the autopilot for airplanes,

0:07:31.329,0:07:35.573
and he worked with another person[br]that probably was autistic,

0:07:35.573,0:07:37.165
probably a visual thinker,

0:07:37.165,0:07:39.955
who came up with this idea[br]for three little coils.

0:07:39.955,0:07:45.802
Then my mathematically-minded grandfather,[br]MIT-trained engineer, did the math for it;

0:07:45.802,0:07:48.270
the different minds working together.

0:07:48.270,0:07:50.189
A lot of kids are getting labels -

0:07:50.189,0:07:52.359
autism, dyslexia, ADHD.

0:07:52.359,0:07:54.505
I'm worried about them[br]getting screened out.

0:07:54.505,0:07:56.071
We need their minds.

0:07:56.071,0:08:00.769
Thomas Edison was labeled[br]as a hyperactive high school dropout.

0:08:01.139,0:08:02.967
He's got some autistic traits.

0:08:03.347,0:08:07.020
Jane Goodall only had[br]a two-year secretarial degree

0:08:07.020,0:08:08.964
when she did her famous work.

0:08:08.964,0:08:10.517
Would that be possible today?

0:08:10.517,0:08:12.179
I want to make you think.

0:08:12.179,0:08:13.488
Steven Spielberg -

0:08:13.488,0:08:17.498
bullied, dyslexic, rejected[br]from a top film school.

0:08:17.498,0:08:19.203
One of the things that saved him:

0:08:19.203,0:08:23.216
he was exposed to movies when he was a kid[br]with a Super-8 movie camera.

0:08:23.216,0:08:24.822
I got bullied in high school.

0:08:24.822,0:08:28.645
They called me all kinds of names,[br]like "tape recorder" and "bones."

0:08:28.645,0:08:32.493
They'd go, "Bones!"[br]as I walked across the parking lot.

0:08:32.493,0:08:34.832
And the only places I was not bullied

0:08:34.832,0:08:38.065
was when I was doing a shared interest[br]with a friend of mine -

0:08:38.065,0:08:39.365
riding horses,

0:08:39.365,0:08:41.843
some other friends I had with electronics,

0:08:41.843,0:08:43.968
friends who shared interests.

0:08:43.968,0:08:46.306
Schools need to be keeping these classes:

0:08:46.306,0:08:48.264
art, sewing, musical instruments,

0:08:48.264,0:08:51.269
woodworking, theater,[br]welding, auto shop ...

0:08:51.269,0:08:52.410
(Cheers) (Applause)

0:08:52.410,0:08:53.845
creative writing.

0:08:53.845,0:08:55.495
(Applause)

0:08:55.495,0:08:57.631
We need to be keeping these classes.

0:08:57.631,0:08:59.944
They also teach practical problem-solving.

0:08:59.944,0:09:04.182
A Nobel Prize winner was 50% more likely[br]to have an art-and-crafts hobby

0:09:04.182,0:09:06.009
compared to just some other scientist.

0:09:06.009,0:09:07.625
That's another reason.

0:09:07.625,0:09:11.209
Steve [Jobs], bullied in school.[br]What would happen to him today?

0:09:11.209,0:09:14.242
Albert Einstein, no speech until age 3.

0:09:14.242,0:09:17.034
He'd probably be in an autism class today.

0:09:17.034,0:09:19.330
Where would he go today?

0:09:19.330,0:09:21.704
I want to have you think about that.

0:09:21.704,0:09:25.156
And the debate between so-called[br]useless humanities programs,

0:09:25.156,0:09:26.508
such as calligraphy,

0:09:26.508,0:09:28.249
should not be ignored.

0:09:28.249,0:09:30.868
Calligraphy was one of the things[br]that helped Steve Jobs

0:09:30.868,0:09:32.494
to be a good designer!

0:09:33.724,0:09:36.773
We've got kids today who don't know[br]how to hook up a garden hose.

0:09:36.773,0:09:37.785
(Laughter)

0:09:37.785,0:09:42.635
They've gotten totally away[br]from the world of the practical.

0:09:43.535,0:09:45.486
I have a livestock handling class,

0:09:45.486,0:09:48.004
and my students have to do[br]a scale drawing.

0:09:48.004,0:09:50.952
And we've got some students today[br]who've never used a ruler,

0:09:50.952,0:09:53.294
never used a ruler to measure anything.

0:09:53.604,0:09:56.665
Well, I don't know about an electric drill[br]for a kid this little,

0:09:56.665,0:10:01.568
but we wanted to have kids growing up[br]and doing real things.

0:10:01.738,0:10:03.176
And I loved this kindergarten:

0:10:03.176,0:10:07.229
they had five-year-olds making things[br]out of broken computer parts.

0:10:07.229,0:10:09.577
This is actually an Italian model.

0:10:09.577,0:10:11.559
They believe in hands-on.

0:10:11.559,0:10:14.173
We've got a huge shortage today[br]of skilled trades -

0:10:14.173,0:10:17.025
plumbers, electricians,[br]mechanics, welders ...

0:10:17.025,0:10:19.227
Computers are not going to replace this!

0:10:19.227,0:10:22.496
Maybe in the future the computer[br]will diagnose your medical problems,

0:10:22.496,0:10:25.210
but it won't fix[br]the hospital's air conditioning.

0:10:25.210,0:10:27.984
Always going to have[br]to have people to fix things.

0:10:27.984,0:10:29.502
These self-driving cars,

0:10:29.502,0:10:33.116
they've got a lot of different sensors[br]and complicated stuff on them.

0:10:33.116,0:10:35.695
I had a chance to visit Apple,[br]and that was super cool,

0:10:35.695,0:10:38.730
and they need coders,[br]and they need them really badly.

0:10:39.090,0:10:41.811
And there's a lot of kids out there[br]that are good at math.

0:10:41.811,0:10:44.039
Somebody needs[br]to introduce them to coding!

0:10:44.279,0:10:47.372
And when I was a young kid,[br]I used to love to do little projects.

0:10:47.372,0:10:50.037
That was a little bird kite[br]that I invented,

0:10:50.037,0:10:52.211
and I had to tinker to make it work.

0:10:52.211,0:10:55.104
Yeah, we need to get kids[br]doing these things.

0:10:55.394,0:10:59.227
Now, when you're weird, what you have[br]to do is you have to sell your work.

0:10:59.227,0:11:01.878
So this is one of my drawings right here,

0:11:01.878,0:11:04.994
and when I'd show my drawings to people,[br]people were impressed.

0:11:04.994,0:11:08.217
In fact, this is a drawing[br]that I sold a major meat company

0:11:08.217,0:11:11.083
to have them have me[br]design stuff for them.

0:11:11.083,0:11:14.126
I simply showed them my work.

0:11:14.555,0:11:17.138
Now, why does it say[br]you have to touch to perceive?

0:11:17.138,0:11:23.233
When our industry went from hand-drafting[br]to computers - this was in the mid '90s -

0:11:23.233,0:11:27.622
I started noticing very,[br]very strange mistakes on drawings -

0:11:27.622,0:11:31.003
like the center of a circle[br]was not in the center of the circle.

0:11:31.003,0:11:34.209
And what I learned was that person[br]had never drawn by hand,

0:11:34.209,0:11:35.793
and they'd never built anything.

0:11:35.793,0:11:39.123
And even today, I've got some drawings[br]from a major engineering company

0:11:39.123,0:11:42.016
that had some concrete work in it[br]with no reinforcing rod.

0:11:42.016,0:11:43.473
Really?

0:11:43.473,0:11:45.795
I don't think that's a very good idea.

0:11:46.185,0:11:48.801
They're not seeing their drawings.

0:11:48.801,0:11:52.213
When you're weird, you've got[br]to show what you can do.

0:11:52.213,0:11:55.270
Show your work off.[br]That's what you've got to do.

0:11:55.720,0:11:58.385
And this is a picture[br]of one my early jobs,

0:11:58.385,0:12:01.711
and this is the kind of pictures[br]that I would put in my portfolio

0:12:01.711,0:12:02.756
to show clients.

0:12:02.756,0:12:05.418
An interview for me was spread[br]the drawings on the table,

0:12:05.418,0:12:07.053
put the pictures out there,

0:12:07.053,0:12:08.960
give them my brochure ...

0:12:08.960,0:12:14.403
That's the replica of one of my systems[br]they built for the HBO movie.

0:12:14.403,0:12:17.418
And I loved the fact[br]that they put my projects in it.

0:12:17.418,0:12:20.712
I've also realized[br]that working with building things

0:12:20.712,0:12:22.911
changes your attitude[br]about how you do stuff.

0:12:22.911,0:12:25.350
You have to actually get stuff done,

0:12:25.350,0:12:29.340
and it's something specific[br]that you have to get done.

0:12:29.340,0:12:32.178
It's not abstract; it's real.

0:12:32.518,0:12:34.873
And there's my brochure, black and white,

0:12:34.873,0:12:38.813
because back in the '70s, '80s and '90s,[br]color printing was just too expensive.

0:12:38.813,0:12:41.604
There was no way I was going[br]to pay for color printing.

0:12:41.604,0:12:44.463
So I made it really nice[br]in black and white.

0:12:44.893,0:12:47.574
Now, what are some[br]of the common denominators

0:12:47.574,0:12:50.557
of some of these kids that are different,

0:12:50.557,0:12:54.709
of some of these individuals growing up[br]with lots of books and learning?

0:12:54.709,0:12:57.305
When I was a young kid,[br]my mother always read to me.

0:12:57.305,0:12:59.633
I had some very good teachers.

0:12:59.633,0:13:00.786
This is super important.

0:13:00.786,0:13:03.298
I didn't talk until age 4,

0:13:03.298,0:13:06.320
so I had a very good speech teacher,

0:13:06.320,0:13:09.259
and if people talked too fast,[br]I couldn't hear what they said.

0:13:09.259,0:13:10.989
It was like, "Buh, buh, buh, buh."

0:13:10.989,0:13:15.834
So my speech teacher would slow down[br]and enunciate the hard consonant words.

0:13:15.834,0:13:18.187
I had Mrs. Deetch,[br]my 3rd grade teacher ...

0:13:18.187,0:13:22.783
Mother had a really good sense[br]of how to stretch me.

0:13:22.783,0:13:26.159
A lot of these kids are getting[br]too overprotected now they have a label.

0:13:26.159,0:13:27.917
And the problem we've got with autism

0:13:27.917,0:13:31.393
is it goes all the way from Einstein,[br]or maybe Thomas Edison,

0:13:31.393,0:13:33.189
to somebody who can't dress themself.

0:13:33.189,0:13:34.651
We've got the same word!

0:13:34.651,0:13:38.312
So the verbal thinkers[br]get locked too much into the word!

0:13:39.122,0:13:42.118
And early exposure to career interests,

0:13:42.118,0:13:43.804
learning how to work.

0:13:44.094,0:13:46.876
My mother got me[br]a sewing job when I was 13;

0:13:46.876,0:13:49.688
I was cleaning horse stalls at 15.

0:13:50.238,0:13:53.668
Learning how to work:[br]super, super important.

0:13:54.328,0:13:55.460
Great mentors -

0:13:55.460,0:13:57.092
I had a wonderful science teacher.

0:13:57.092,0:13:59.572
He actually was a NASA space scientist,

0:13:59.572,0:14:03.438
and what he did is he got me[br]interested in studying,

0:14:03.438,0:14:08.755
because now, education[br]was a pathway to a goal.

0:14:08.755,0:14:13.457
It wasn't done "just do it[br]for the sake of education."

0:14:13.457,0:14:14.965
I'm seeing a lot of kids today:

0:14:14.965,0:14:18.038
they doing super well on their academics,

0:14:18.038,0:14:22.484
but then when school's over, what's next?

0:14:22.674,0:14:25.484
Well, this is the reason[br]why they need to learn how to work.

0:14:25.484,0:14:27.552
I've counseled a lot of students,

0:14:27.552,0:14:33.094
and said, "If you're in college right now,[br]do career-relative, relevant internships.

0:14:33.094,0:14:34.775
Go out and try on careers.

0:14:34.775,0:14:37.850
Find out what you love,[br]but also maybe find out what you hate."

0:14:37.850,0:14:39.158
It's important to do that.

0:14:39.158,0:14:40.527
You can't get an internship?

0:14:40.527,0:14:42.879
I say, "Get on your department's web page,

0:14:42.879,0:14:45.384
get on the web pages[br]of whole other departments.

0:14:45.384,0:14:47.805
There's all kinds[br]of interesting stuff going on

0:14:47.805,0:14:52.224
that you can get involved in,[br]if you just look."

0:14:52.224,0:14:53.745
And then you discover something,

0:14:53.745,0:14:57.261
because originally I thought I was going[br]to be an experimental psychologist

0:14:57.261,0:14:58.788
who studied optical illusions.

0:14:58.788,0:15:01.029
Well, that wasn't what happened to me.

0:15:01.029,0:15:02.059
(Laughter)

0:15:02.059,0:15:03.723
It's just that simple.

0:15:03.723,0:15:06.219
Also, when you don't have[br]much working memory,

0:15:06.219,0:15:08.372
learning how to drive[br]is going to take longer.

0:15:08.372,0:15:09.526
But it's essential,

0:15:09.526,0:15:13.255
and I can't use this external[br]working memory to learn how to drive.

0:15:13.255,0:15:16.106
So what you've got to do[br]to solve the problem of multitasking

0:15:16.106,0:15:18.406
is get out there and practice,[br]practice, practice

0:15:18.406,0:15:20.288
in totally safe places for a long time.

0:15:20.288,0:15:22.838
I did 200 miles on dirt roads,

0:15:22.838,0:15:26.740
and the truck was three on the tree,[br]with a really terrible clutch.

0:15:26.740,0:15:27.765
(Laughter)

0:15:27.765,0:15:30.960
And it started out lurching[br]all around the horse pasture.

0:15:30.960,0:15:33.542
It was just absolutely awful.

0:15:33.542,0:15:34.554
(Laughter)

0:15:34.554,0:15:36.410
Well, the thing that's really important

0:15:36.410,0:15:38.866
is we need all the different[br]kinds of minds,

0:15:38.866,0:15:41.059
and I'm worried[br]that in some school systems

0:15:41.059,0:15:44.306
we're screening out some of these kids[br]because they can't do algebra.

0:15:44.306,0:15:47.347
If you do chemistry, you'll do[br]a lot of things that need algebra,

0:15:47.347,0:15:51.792
but you don't need it[br]for solving a lot of problems.

0:15:51.792,0:15:53.486
It's that simple.

0:15:53.486,0:15:55.754
And that was my last slide right there,

0:15:55.754,0:15:57.790
and let me give you some examples

0:15:57.790,0:16:03.045
of where visual thinking[br]can solve problems.

0:16:03.045,0:16:05.961
The Fukushima nuclear power plant mess.

0:16:05.961,0:16:08.526
It's not a good idea[br]when you live next to the sea

0:16:08.526,0:16:11.396
to put your super important[br]emergency cooling pump

0:16:11.396,0:16:13.773
in a non-waterproof basement.

0:16:13.773,0:16:15.763
It has an electric motor.

0:16:16.103,0:16:18.083
That doesn't work too well under water.

0:16:18.083,0:16:20.249
Watertight doors would have saved it.

0:16:20.249,0:16:22.532
Then there's the Boeing MAX mess.

0:16:22.822,0:16:25.272
You all know what[br]a Sharpie pen looks like.

0:16:25.272,0:16:28.174
Would you trust one of those[br]stuck on the side of an airplane,

0:16:28.174,0:16:30.686
wired right into active flight controls,

0:16:30.686,0:16:32.511
and you didn't tell the pilots?

0:16:32.881,0:16:34.248
I don't think so.

0:16:34.248,0:16:37.333
You see, when you think[br]about it visually, you see it.

0:16:37.333,0:16:40.936
Mathematical kinds of minds,[br]they calculate risk.

0:16:40.936,0:16:42.727
Visual thinkers can see risk.

0:16:42.727,0:16:46.741
They can also see solutions to problems.

0:16:47.410,0:16:50.514
I can see a pigeon[br]just taking that sensor off.

0:16:50.514,0:16:53.325
Then what happens?[br]It was a disaster what happened.

0:16:53.325,0:16:58.687
There were other mistakes that were made,[br]but that was the first mistake.

0:16:59.033,0:17:02.447
They just didn't see it!

0:17:02.447,0:17:03.889
That's the thing.

0:17:04.304,0:17:05.599
And -

0:17:05.759,0:17:09.406
I got to thinking just real recently,[br]"What is common sense?"

0:17:09.406,0:17:10.406
(Laughter)

0:17:10.406,0:17:13.260
I think common sense is visual thinking.

0:17:13.260,0:17:16.899
Because let's say there was a water bottle[br]or something on the floor -

0:17:16.899,0:17:19.209
I'd pick that up[br]because if somebody steps on it,

0:17:19.209,0:17:20.641
they could break their ankle.

0:17:20.641,0:17:24.563
You see, that's seeing it.[br]Common sense is seeing it.

0:17:24.563,0:17:26.186
So, I just want to finish up

0:17:26.186,0:17:29.490
and say we need to figure out[br]how the different minds work together,

0:17:29.490,0:17:32.393
where the skills complement each other.

0:17:33.033,0:17:36.055
But the first step is realizing[br]that different kinds of thinking

0:17:36.055,0:17:37.220
actually do exist.

0:17:37.220,0:17:39.055
And I just want to finish up and say:

0:17:39.055,0:17:41.090
the world needs all kinds of minds!

0:17:41.090,0:17:42.662
Thank you very much.

0:17:42.662,0:17:45.101
(Applause) (Cheers)