Timeless Practical Wisdom For Living a Meaningful Life Inspiring stories and practical advice from creatives, entrepreneurs, change-makers, misfits, and rebels to help you become successful on your own terms Our listeners say, “If TEDTalks met Oprah you’d have the Unmistakable Creative.” Eliminate the feeling of being stuck in your life, blocked in your creativity, and discover higher levels of meaning and purpose in your life and career. Listen to deeply personal, insightful, and thought-pr ...
…
continue reading
Content provided by Stewart Alsop. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Stewart Alsop or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.
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Episode #447: From Frustration to Creation: Building with Chaos Instead of Blueprints
Manage episode 473943603 series 2497498
Content provided by Stewart Alsop. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Stewart Alsop or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.
In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, I, Stewart Alsop, speak with Perry Knoppert, founder of The Octopus Movement, joining us from the Netherlands. We explore everything from octopus facts (like how they once had bones and decided to ditch them—wild, right?) to neurodivergence, non-linear thinking, the alien-like nature of both octopuses and AI, and how the future of education might finally reflect the chaos and creativity of human intelligence. Perry drops insight bombs on ADHD, dyslexia, chaos as a superpower, and even shares a wild idea about how frustration—not just ideas—can shape the world. You can connect with him and explore more at theoctopusmovement.org, and check out his playful venting app at tellTom.ink.
Check out this GPT we trained on the conversation!
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to the Crazy Wisdom Podcast
00:31 Fascinating Facts About Octopi
02:03 The Octopus Movement: Origins and Symbolism
05:55 Exploring Neurodivergence and AI
20:15 The Future of Education with AI
29:48 Challenges in the Dutch Education System
30:59 Educational Pathways in the US
31:50 Exploring Neurodiversity
32:34 The Origin of Neurodiversity
34:34 Nomadic DNA and ADHD
36:02 Personal Nomadic Experiences
37:20 Cultural Insights from China
41:59 Trust in Different Cultures
44:20 The Foreigner Experience
52:21 Artificial and Natural Intelligence
55:11 The Octopus Movement and Tell Tom App
Key Insights
- Neurodivergence isn't a superpower—it's a different lens on reality. Perry challenges the popular narrative that conditions like ADHD or dyslexia are inherently "superpowers." Instead, he sees them as part of a broader, complex human experience—often painful, often misunderstood, but rich with potential once liberated from linear systems that define what's "normal."
- AI is the beautiful product of linear thought—and it's freeing us from it. Perry reframes artificial intelligence not as a threat, but as the ultimate tool born from centuries of structured, logical thinking. With AI handling the systems and organization, humans are finally free to return to creativity, chaos, and nonlinear, intuitive modes of intelligence that machines can't touch.
- Octopuses are the ultimate symbol of curious misfits. The octopus—alien, adaptable, emotion-rich—becomes a metaphor for people who don't fit the mold. With three hearts, nine brains, and a decentralized nervous system, octopuses reflect the kind of intelligence and distributed awareness Perry celebrates in neurodivergent thinkers.
- Frustration is more generative than ideas. In one of the episode’s most unexpected insights, Perry argues that frustration is a more powerful starting point for change than intellectual ideation. Ideas are often inert without action, while frustration is raw, emotional, and deeply human—fuel for meaningful transformation.
- Education needs to shift from repetition to creation. The current model of education—memorization, repetition, testing—serves linearity, not creativity. With AI taking over traditional knowledge tasks, Perry envisions classrooms where kids learn how their minds work, engage with the world directly, and practice making meaning instead of memorizing facts.
- Being a foreigner is a portal to freedom. Living in unfamiliar cultures (like Perry did in China or Stewart in Argentina) reveals the absurdities of our own norms and invites new ways of being. Foreignness becomes a superpower in itself—a space of lowered expectations, fewer assumptions, and greater possibility.
- Labels like “neurodivergent” are both helpful and illusory. While diagnostic labels can offer relief and clarity, Perry warns against attaching too tightly to them. These constructs are inventions of linear thought, useful for navigating systems but ultimately limiting when it comes to embracing the full, messy, nonlinear reality of being human.
465 episodes
Share
Manage episode 473943603 series 2497498
Content provided by Stewart Alsop. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Stewart Alsop or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.
In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, I, Stewart Alsop, speak with Perry Knoppert, founder of The Octopus Movement, joining us from the Netherlands. We explore everything from octopus facts (like how they once had bones and decided to ditch them—wild, right?) to neurodivergence, non-linear thinking, the alien-like nature of both octopuses and AI, and how the future of education might finally reflect the chaos and creativity of human intelligence. Perry drops insight bombs on ADHD, dyslexia, chaos as a superpower, and even shares a wild idea about how frustration—not just ideas—can shape the world. You can connect with him and explore more at theoctopusmovement.org, and check out his playful venting app at tellTom.ink.
Check out this GPT we trained on the conversation!
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to the Crazy Wisdom Podcast
00:31 Fascinating Facts About Octopi
02:03 The Octopus Movement: Origins and Symbolism
05:55 Exploring Neurodivergence and AI
20:15 The Future of Education with AI
29:48 Challenges in the Dutch Education System
30:59 Educational Pathways in the US
31:50 Exploring Neurodiversity
32:34 The Origin of Neurodiversity
34:34 Nomadic DNA and ADHD
36:02 Personal Nomadic Experiences
37:20 Cultural Insights from China
41:59 Trust in Different Cultures
44:20 The Foreigner Experience
52:21 Artificial and Natural Intelligence
55:11 The Octopus Movement and Tell Tom App
Key Insights
- Neurodivergence isn't a superpower—it's a different lens on reality. Perry challenges the popular narrative that conditions like ADHD or dyslexia are inherently "superpowers." Instead, he sees them as part of a broader, complex human experience—often painful, often misunderstood, but rich with potential once liberated from linear systems that define what's "normal."
- AI is the beautiful product of linear thought—and it's freeing us from it. Perry reframes artificial intelligence not as a threat, but as the ultimate tool born from centuries of structured, logical thinking. With AI handling the systems and organization, humans are finally free to return to creativity, chaos, and nonlinear, intuitive modes of intelligence that machines can't touch.
- Octopuses are the ultimate symbol of curious misfits. The octopus—alien, adaptable, emotion-rich—becomes a metaphor for people who don't fit the mold. With three hearts, nine brains, and a decentralized nervous system, octopuses reflect the kind of intelligence and distributed awareness Perry celebrates in neurodivergent thinkers.
- Frustration is more generative than ideas. In one of the episode’s most unexpected insights, Perry argues that frustration is a more powerful starting point for change than intellectual ideation. Ideas are often inert without action, while frustration is raw, emotional, and deeply human—fuel for meaningful transformation.
- Education needs to shift from repetition to creation. The current model of education—memorization, repetition, testing—serves linearity, not creativity. With AI taking over traditional knowledge tasks, Perry envisions classrooms where kids learn how their minds work, engage with the world directly, and practice making meaning instead of memorizing facts.
- Being a foreigner is a portal to freedom. Living in unfamiliar cultures (like Perry did in China or Stewart in Argentina) reveals the absurdities of our own norms and invites new ways of being. Foreignness becomes a superpower in itself—a space of lowered expectations, fewer assumptions, and greater possibility.
- Labels like “neurodivergent” are both helpful and illusory. While diagnostic labels can offer relief and clarity, Perry warns against attaching too tightly to them. These constructs are inventions of linear thought, useful for navigating systems but ultimately limiting when it comes to embracing the full, messy, nonlinear reality of being human.
465 episodes
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Similar to Crazy Wisdom
Timeless Practical Wisdom For Living a Meaningful Life Inspiring stories and practical advice from creatives, entrepreneurs, change-makers, misfits, and rebels to help you become successful on your own terms Our listeners say, “If TEDTalks met Oprah you’d have the Unmistakable Creative.” Eliminate the feeling of being stuck in your life, blocked in your creativity, and discover higher levels of meaning and purpose in your life and career. Listen to deeply personal, insightful, and thought-pr ...
…
continue reading
The simplest questions often have the most complex answers. The Philosopher's Zone is your guide through the strange thickets of logic, metaphysics and ethics.
…
continue reading
As She Rises brings together local poets and activists from throughout North America to depict the effects of climate change on their home and their people. Each episode carries the listener to a new place through a collection of voices, local recordings and soundscapes. Stories span from the Louisiana Bayou, to the tundras of Alaska to the drying bed of the Colorado River. Centering the voices of native women and women of color, As She Rises personalizes the elusive magnitude of climate cha ...
…
continue reading
Design Matters with Debbie Millman is one of the world’s very first podcasts. Broadcasting independently for over 15 years, the show is about how incredibly creative people design the arc of their lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
…
continue reading
Imperfect Paradise is an award-winning weekly narrative podcast showcasing California stories with universal significance, hosted by Antonia Cereijido. Each deeply reported story is driven by characters who illuminate aspects of American identity and underscore California's reputation as a home for dreamers and schemers, its heartbreaking inequality, its varied and diverse communities, its unique combination of dense cities and wild places. New episodes premiere Wednesdays, with broadcasts o ...
…
continue reading
Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King's College London, takes listeners through the history of philosophy, "without any gaps". www.historyofphilosophy.net
…
continue reading
Join two of the stars from Real Housewives of Potomac, Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon, as they team up for their new podcast Reasonably Shady. The show features conversations about being fearless women as they recount stories from their exciting lives. Topics include dating, relationships, marriage, entrepreneurs, motherhood, style, glam, current events and more! Join Gizelle and Robyn for Reasonably Shady!
…
continue reading
An investigative podcast hosted by world-renowned literary critic and publishing insider Bethanne Patrick. Book bans are on the rise across America. With the rise of social media, book publishers are losing their power as the industry gatekeepers. More and more celebrities and influencers are publishing books with ghostwriters. Writing communities are splintering because members are at cross purposes about their mission. Missing Pages is an investigative podcast about the book publishing ind ...
…
continue reading
Each season of Unobscured digs deep into one of history's darkest and most misunderstood moments, and sheds light on the true story beneath the myth. Explore the Salem witch trials (S1), the Spiritualist Movement (S2), Jack the Ripper (S3), and Grigori Rasputin (S4) through the narrative storytelling of Aaron Mahnke, along with prominent historian interviews.
…
continue reading
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives – looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Broadcast as Free Thinking, Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
…
continue reading
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