What is the point of sight? It's a costly endeavor; it commands approximately one-third of your brain's volume and up to two-thirds of your cognitive processing power. But what is it meant to accomplish? Intuitively, the answer seems obvious: sight is meant to accurately represent the world around you.
Read MoreI forget nature as a city dweller. Where would one find the natural world in canyons of concrete and steel, prowled by fume-spewing cars and trucks, lit by the harsh glow of artificial lights?
Read MoreOn some level, we all want to be normal. We all want to belong. Yet most of us feel that one or many parts of us are disastrously different.
James Cameron became the person he imagined when he was a kid. In his talk, "Before Avatar … a curious boy," he tells how he learned that curiosity is one's most powerful possession, that imagination is a force that can manifest a reality, and that respect from people around you is the most important thing in the world.
To be an educated black person whose default speech is not the kind that most would describe as "sounding black" is to be irritated, now and then, by being told that one is "articulate."
Read MoreYou're Steve Jobs. You don't do personal appearances. You don't even do interviews these days without a corresponding product release. Yet here you are, the famous college dropout, abhorrent of ceremony, donning a silly gown and hat to give a commencement address to college graduates. It must be important.
Art has the ability to change perceptions. It can show what is obvious yet not considered, and it can change the way we see the world because what we see changes who we are.
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