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Kevin Jones

Role: Impact investment pioneer, social entrepreneur

Contributions to the Discussion

Kevin offered a contrarian voice early in the conversation, challenging the premise of declining curiosity.

Core Position

"I am not seeing a decline"

"I completely disagree" (with the premise that curiosity is diminishing)

This challenge helped broaden the conversation beyond simple decline narratives.

On BS Meters and Younger Generations

Kevin strongly supported Scott Moehring's hypothesis about younger people's finely-tuned skepticism:

"@Scott: Exactly" (in response to the BS meter being more finely tuned)

"From boomers and the like" (clarifying whose BS young people can detect)

On the Nature of Need and Curiosity

Kevin challenged Scott's definition of curiosity:

"I am curious about things I need to know first"

"I do not think so" (when asked if needing to know something makes motivation different from curiosity)

This led to an interesting exchange about what "need" means in the context of curiosity.

Personal Interactions

Climate Science Context

Pete Kaminski shared on Kevin's behalf information about Benjamin D. Santer, suggesting Kevin has deep knowledge of climate science history and the IPCC process.

Kevin's Three Memorable Stories

Kevin shared three powerful stories during the call that reveal his approach to curiosity, learning, and life.

1. The Ben Santer Story: Finding Your Briar Patch

Kevin told a story about Benjamin D. Santer, the renowned climate scientist:

"Ben didn't pay attention in school, and he said he was a poor student, because he just had a hard time paying attention. And it was one of his... his family or business people or that sort of... And later on, he... he found the topic of climate, and he became intensely... focused on it. And the work, there was a lot of great work, but he really just found his... his Briar Patch."

Key Insight: People who can't pay attention to what doesn't interest them may have intense focus on what does. Ben Santer wasn't a "poor student" - he just hadn't found his curiosity trigger yet.

The "Briar Patch" reference (from Br'er Rabbit stories) suggests finding the place where you naturally thrive, even if others think it's an unlikely fit.

Kevin connected this to his own experience:

"And I had a similar experience. I couldn't pay attention to school much, but I could pay attention to business like crazy."

This challenged the narrative of declining attention spans by suggesting the problem may be what we're asking people to pay attention to, not their capacity for attention.

2. The Cherokee Story: "What Does This Decision Make Us?"

Kevin shared a profound story about Cherokee decision-making and reciprocity:

"There's a lovely story that Kevin Jones told in the transcript about the Cherokee nation. When they're considering a decision, instead of asking 'What do we get?', they ask 'What does this decision make us?' This reframes everything around identity and values rather than extraction."

The full context from the transcript (lines 2111-2244):

Kevin discussed how the Cherokee approach to reciprocity and decision-making asks "What does this decision make us?" rather than "What do we get from this?"

This shifts the frame from:

This connects to curiosity by suggesting that inquiry should ask not just "What can I learn?" but "What does this learning make me?"

3. The Cobra Story: Non-Replicable Parenting

One of the most memorable moments of the call was Kevin's "don't try this at home" story:

"About 25 years ago, I was in Rajasthan at a Mughal fort, And there was a Fakir, who does, uh, you know, a random pattern to keep a cobra from going at him."

"And I've been told just a few weeks before by a woman that I was hard to follow in dance, so I wanted to see how it would be with the cobra."

Kevin bought a pipe and attempted to lead the cobra in "dance":

"So I bought a... little pipe thing, you know, tube, whatever those things are. And, uh, got a little closer, and so the COBRA focused on me, and it turned… I did my little funky thing, and within... Less than 30 seconds, the cobra had me figured out better than Sean McConnell's wife had."

The Escape:

"But I'd planned my exit well. I knew what to do with my right hand and with my left leg, and to spin behind, and so that he was in the line of fire, and my kids are watching me, and it's like..."

The Lesson:

"I didn't have to tell them, don't try this, because they'd seen me, you know, do something, um... But it was a great time… the moment of being eye-to-eye with a cobra, is something I would do And I don't regret doing. But I'm glad they didn't think they needed to do it."

"So I'm really glad that my kids have not seen me as a role model."

Jerry Michalski's perfect summary: "This is a good, non-replicable parenting moment."

What This Story Reveals About Kevin

The story embodies a particular form of curiosity: embodied, experiential, and willing to take calculated risks to satisfy genuine questions.

Cultural Observations

Kevin contributed observations about privacy and cultural norms:

"Got it" (acknowledging Victoria (Spain)'s point about privacy norms in Catalonia)

Judith's Contributions

"@Judith Benham seeing your thumb a lot" (acknowledging Judith's active engagement)

Themes Kevin Explored

Related Participants

Related People Mentioned

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