David Eagleman

Human brains seek a balance between exploiting knowledge already earned, and experiencing new surprises. After eons of development, this tension is perfectly—and predictably—refined: too much familiarity and we tune out; too much surprise and we become disoriented. How can companies consistently strike this fine balance when developing consumer products and services? 

In this workshop, David Eagleman and Anthony Brandt invite companies to bring the projects their working on, struggling with, or ready to take to the next level, and together, run them through the innovation frameworks and best practices they developed in the process of researching The Runaway Species. Through intensive collaborative brainstorming sessions and real-time feedback from David and Anthony, audiences will generate a ton of ideas quickly, learn to embrace the right kind of risk, and come away inspired, empowered, and ready to innovate.

Companies that want to take the lead in innovation have to wrestle with a three-headed problem: the future is hard to foresee, most ideas die, and even great concepts may not last. So: What does it take to become a truly creative company? In this talk, David Eagleman argues that all organizations must generate ideas—small, diverse, wild ideas, the more the better—to stay ahead in a world that is constantly changing. He’ll show you how to inspire employees and teams to greater heights, to work on “moonshot” concepts, to learn from failures (even fiascos), and to push beyond the expected. This is easier said than done, but Eagleman, the world’s coolest neuroscientist, is up to the task. Using a handful of great examples—and the advanced science that animates them—he shows you that there’s no one true way to innovate, and that the process is itself not set in stone: it’s something to be reconsidered and reinvigorated. Most importantly, he helps leaders break from “cognitive ossification,” which can stall progress through routine and expectation. The path to breakthrough new products and experiences is strewn with bad ideas—but, surprisingly, good ones, too. Eagleman helps us know which ideas to pursue, which to abandon, and why investing in even the most far-reaching possibilities might be the most practical thing you can do for your company. 

Of all life on Earth, human beings are unique in their capacity to create—and remake—the world. But still, we know so little of this fundamental drive. Where does the urge to create come from? Do all creative acts share a similar set of qualities? And, importantly, is it a force we can all learn to cultivate?

In this moving examination of human creativity, David Eagleman applies the latest findings from the field of neuroscience to issues of immediate and practical importance. To uplift our schools and institutions, businesses and personal lives, Eagleman outlines ways we might stimulate our latent creative urges while nourishing those we already possess. Both a celebration and interrogation of the human spirit, this keynote can help audiences imagine a more creative future for all of us—at a time when innovation may be key to transforming, and saving, our world.

The brain is often portrayed as an organ with different regions dedicated to specific tasks. But that textbook model is wrong. The brain is not hardwired, David Eagleman contends—it is livewired. In this talk, Eagleman presents his new theory of infotropism: why the fundamental principle of the brain is information maximization. In the same way that plants grow toward light, brains reconfigure to boost data from the outside world. Follow Eagleman on a thrilling journey to discover how a child can function with one half of his brain removed, how a blind man can hit a baseball via a sensor on his tongue, how new devices and body plans can enhance our natural capacities, how paralyzed people will soon be able to dance in thought-controlled robotic suits, how we can build the next generation of devices based on the principles of the brain, and what all this has to do with why we dream at night. You will never think about your brain in the same way again. 

Advances in neuroscience are beginning to reveal the limits of our criminal justice system. As scientists probe the brain, we begin to see how many neural problems are linked to anti-social, violent, and criminal behaviors. And as our biology changes, so too does our behavior—making the issue of criminal blameworthiness, of volition, much more complicated than we’ve traditionally understood. In this riveting keynote, David Eagleman—director of the Center for Science & Law—exposes the flaws of our punitive institutions, and helps us imagine a new legal system, more intrinsically tied to scientific research, and one that adjusts sentences, rehabilitation, and incentives depending upon the neurological make-up of the perpetrator. With reference to contemporary cases and the latest in the science of the brain, Eagleman outlines a more cost-effective, adaptable, and ultimately humane system for the benefit of all.