Genuine Insights

Got Fat Brains?

From time to time, my husband and I have what we like to call a “playdate of genius,” where we invite people over for a home-cooked meal, great conversation, and, of course, a good mix of music and what usually happens with people our age—we sit, dream out loud, debate, share, dream out loud some more, and usually end up discussing our children. It’s always a great time, the conversation flows, and the evening is usually elegantly and pleasantly predictable.

Last night, I set out with the same formula, made a great meal, got the playlist of music together, and set the mood lighting just right for the evening’s gathering. The only difference was that our guests were three young guys between the ages of 23 and 31 who were crashing at my place before embarking on a conference at sea for young entrepreneurs called Summit Series (it’s basically the Davos conference for young people). These young people are a few of what I call the Fat Brains in my life—the young smart explorers who remind me every day how much there is to learn and do if we want to live our lives all the way to the edges.

Let me tell you, last night I experienced one of those moments where you step back and look upon the scene and think out loud to yourself, “Is this really happening?” We dug deep into topics ranging from entrepreneurship, body hair, galactic travel, emotional intelligence, and “The Price is Right.” And the highlight for me was spending hours discussing Brain Computing Interface (BCI) while we played with Emotiv’s EPOC , a revolutionary mind-reading headset.

I happened to have met the founder of Emotiv, TanLe, at the TEDGobal Conference in Oxford last summer and I have been a huge fan for the potential of the device. But I had never had the opportunity to try it and last night I got to play with it extensively. Discussing and debating the whole world of possibility this extraordinary device represented with these smart, nimble-minded, funny, colorful, big-hearted Fat Brains. And all this happened outside with laptops and candlelight under an avocado tree. Now that’s genius!

I could not believe this was my Wednesday night. Now for the lucky techies reading this post, yes, maybe this is every Wednesday night for you. But that’s just not what Wednesday night usually looks like for me and I was so grateful to have them in my home for this unique, amazing, glowing moment. I have long been a vocal advocate of having people in your tribe who are half your age, as a way of cross-seeding knowledge and exploration and energy across the generations. Now I’m challenging every Baby Boomer reading this to open your home to guests half your age for a real adventure in learning and growing.

Think about it: What kind of person travels from New York to Miami with a mind-reading headset in his suitcase? Only a determined, full-out Fat Brain who curates his life’s experiences the way a master works on a masterpiece.

This post is dedicated to the hundreds of Fat Brains heading out to the Summit Series. Have fun, play hard and come back with inspirational tales of your intellectual excavations!

Posted Apr 7, 2011 Tagged under: conversations and interviews, fat brains, ideas and innovation, social media and technology