Optimal Friction™

I'm BACK! It's exciting to be here at the POPTech Conference. It's my annual pilgrimage to take in ideas and images from remarkable speakers from all over the world, in the tiny hamlet of Camden, a beautiful village with a delightful harbor halfway up the Maine coast.

This year's theme is "The Human Impact" - exploring some of the many ways human beings impact—and are impacted by—the world and each other. This is the description of the conference from the Poptech website:

The dialogue will cover a wide range of topics, from new ways of measuring humanity’s global impact and the promise of bottom-up solutions to global poverty, to the future of the oceans and the dialogue between Islam and the West.

We’ll get a deep look at where ideas come from – reviewing startling new scientific insights into the mind and brain, and examine the origins of creativity, innovation, and the essence of human nature.

Next, we will turn our attention to where our ideas are made real: the “systems of civilization” that govern our lives. From human habitats, resources and material culture to the political processes that frame our shared agendas, we’ll take stock of where we are and where we’re going.

We’ll conclude by looking at the inspiring ways new ideas, technologies, and approaches are being used to transform the world—from the bottom up (versus from the top down).

As always, there will be incredible performances, spirited discussions and surprises woven throughout. We will leave Camden with a reframed sense of ourselves, the systems we rely on, and the dynamics of positive change.

It's my 8th year at POPTech, and it began with a homecoming of sorts at the Hawthorne Inn and the wonderful feeling created by the proprietor, Maryanne Shanahan. She is wonderful, and her inn is also a special reason for my journey every year to Camden.