Joi Ito: If You Want to Innovate, Become a "Now-ist"

In this absorbing TED Talk, Joi Ito, head of the MIT Media Lab, advocates for skipping “the future predictions” and instead makes a strong case for “creating in the moment: building quickly and improving constantly, without waiting for permission or for proof that you have the right idea.”

"I'm a three-time college dropout," Ito says, "so learning over education is very near and dear to my heart. But to me, education is what people do to you and learning is what you do to yourself."

In a TED Talk, Joi Ito, head of the MIT Media Lab, talks about a fundamental shift change in innovation: one where innovators learn on the go, create from the ground up while keeping costs down, and, as Ito likes to say, "Deploy or die."

"It's a bottom-up innovation, it's democratic, it's chaotic, it's hard to control," Ito says, "I think the good news is that even though the world is extremely complex, what you need to do is very simple. Focus on being connected, always learning, fully aware, and super present. I think we should be now-ists, like we are right now."

Watch Joi Ito’s full TED Talk below: