The Power of Curiosity: Why We Must Keep Asking 🤔

“We have to practice asking questions again. We have to get really good at it.”

Curiosity is an inherent part of being alive and being human - but somewhere along the line, and ironically with access to more information than ever before at our fingertips, we have lost the art of asking questions.

Anna Starkey believes it’s time to activate a new 'Culture of Curiosity' for the 21st Century. “We need diverse minds and curious people more than ever. People who connect ideas across disciplines. What might our destination look like if everyone could participate in perceiving new futures?”

Through the stories of three famous cats in time, Anna explores the different type of curiosity we all have bubbling inside us, how we can activate it, and why curiosity definitely did not kill the cat!


This is a story about a big red button that says DO NOT PRESS... which ends with a beginning - what we’re all going to do next…

This talk is from TEDxBristol 2017: Dare To Disrupt. In a world of constant change and uncertainty, these are the ‘positive disruptors’ ripping up the rule book to challenge received wisdom, demand better, and transform seemingly insurmountable problems into break-through possibilities and new beginnings.

From making a big splash on single-use plastics, to a global campaign to end unwanted hair-touching, or a revolutionary approach to combining robotics with human creativity, we hope you’ll enjoy and feel inspired by these talks.

Watch all our talks here https://tedxbristol.com/talks

Our talks were produced, filmed and edited by a brilliant team of talented volunteers and pro-bono partners:

Produced by:

Mel Rodrigues, Curator TEDxBristol
Daniel Edmund, Assistant Curator, TEDxBristol
Samuel Williams, Hodos Consultancy
Barney Grenfell, Hodos Consultancy

Filmed and edited by Floating Harbour Films:

Richard da Costa
Ben Scrase
Tom Young
Dan O’Connell
Gareth Croft

With camerawork and production support from:
Steve Webb
Giles Edwards
Bath Spa University

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
Anna Starkey is Creative Director of We The Curious, an interactive science centre in Bristol, UK. She has a degree in physics, a Bafta nomination for writing children’s animation, and a back catalogue of jobs that include stop motion penguins, a Lab of Misfits, water rockets, voice artists, symphony orchestras, street dancers, stand up comics and particle accelerators. Her talk for TEDxBristol: Dare to Disrupt is equally multi-disciplinary - a battle cry for empowering everyone to start asking bold questions and getting curious about the stuff that matters. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx