"I was interested in curiosity—curious about curiosity"
/We live in an increasingly complex world. In our post-pandemic reality, many of us have quietly slipped into survival mode—feeling exhausted, insular, and struggling to imagine alternative futures.
So how do we break out of this cognitive fatigue? How do we reclaim our agency when our very attention is being systematically shaped by algorithms, devices, and those tiny red notification icons?
Kate Rodgers believes the path forward lies in a force we often take for granted: curiosity.
Kate is a design futures researcher, technologist, and educator. After experiencing profound professional burnout, Kate made a brave, counterintuitive choice: she let go of the need for control. Guided by the chaos of the "design squiggle," she allowed herself to navigate the mess until she discovered her life's true through-line.
Now, through her practice, Kate champions "the serious work of playful change". She helps organizations and collectives step out of their heads and literally think with their hands—using tools like Lego and clay to unlock emergent, subconscious ideas.
In this episode, we explore the power dynamics of who gets to be curious, how the status quo forms an invisible infrastructure around us, and how we can rebuild our collective imagination
