On Friday morning of Chicago Ideas Week, Max Temkin spoke about this month’s theme; “Play”. Max was a perfect speaker for this month, as he is known for his incredibly playful games such as Cards Against Humanity and Humans vs Zombies.
"Do whatever makes you happy, is total bullshit."We can’t get what ought from what is.
Chicago’s creative community jammed into the GE Garage’s maker space and was invited to play with all of their 3D printers and tools. His talk began with an intimate clip of Steve Jobs explaining how you should do what you love. This is great advice, but as we find out, Max asks us not to be sophists. He argues that sophists apply ideas to satisfy themselves, while we should be virtuous and design by our values.
"I don’t know why we are are here, but I’m pretty sure it’s not in order to enjoy ourselves."
Max believes that it is up to us to figure out what our values and beliefs are. He spoke on how famous philosophers such as Socrates and Aristotle spent their life’s pursuit to figure out what drives personal happiness. He shared Aristotle’s great metaphor for finding the good life like the archer who is more likely to hit his mark if he has a target to aim for. His visit to NASA’s JPL reminded him of this archer. With missions that will outlive all of it’s creators, they had to instill their values for the benefit of something larger.
Playing in public is a political act.
"Confusion is the beginning of knowledge"
- Socrates
Max and his team found that during games like Humans vs Zombies, people were doing much more than just playing a chaotic game. Many college student players claim that these games were the highlight of that time helped them find their values. “Values came out that really surprised us.”
Share vision.
Max began a Kickstarter Office Hours project after being successfully funded during the Cards Against Humanity campaign. He stated he began doing Google Hangouts and giving advice to people simply because, “it was something I believed in. As a community of makers, we need to create products that are built of our values.”
"Sell good values."
Independance. Honesty. Hardwork.
When asked what’s next for Max, he replied “I’m going to continue to help people, push people into doing what they love. I’m trying to figure how to scale that and help more people.”
We can’t wait to see his next endeavor. Max loves philosophy and games. Discuss how games have played a role in your world view @MaxTemkin and keep an eye out for his next project on his website.
