Interview with:Andrew Kennedy [ankenn]
CREATIVITY
 | It is possible to fall in love with a bad idea simply because it is yours. How do you avoid this? I love my ideas. Few of them are wrong in the sense of having no future. When I worry about not giving an idea enough distance, I play the role of my neighbour telling me about the idea he has. Nothing like someone else telling you about an idea you've had as if it was his or her idea to make you suspect it. |
HEALTH
| Happiness and health: how much do they have in common, and how much myth is there in their relationship? Certainly the research is there that suggests happiness and longevity are connected. There is also some recent research that suggests depression now and then also improves survival. From the point of view of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the relationship of the elements, happiness is a function of fire. Too much happiness is an emotion which damages one's insides, by suppressing clarity, purity and peace, turning natural fears back on themselves and keeping the body restless. But there is no simple rule for everyone. Happiness is when all the particular elements of your existence harmonise well, or when you have the freedom to work towards that harmony. The harmony is the healthy part, the happiness is one element. |
PERSONALITY
| What hobbies have you got? Hobby is a structured activity distinct from work. For me, everything I do is what I do. I don't feel any separation between activities, and any time invested in them is part of the one life I live. |
| If you were sent to a deserted island, which book, CD and film would you take with you? Book: Whittaker's Almanac
CD: Klemperer's Beethoven's 9th (with all the repetitions)
film: It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World |
| How do you find the balance between working to live and living to work? There's little balance, mostly oscillations from one to the other. |
| In moments of tension, what techniques work in calming the mind? Absolute focus |
| A simple pleasure that for you is quite big or important. Saunas |
| How do you respond to telemarketing calls? Put the phone down |
| Are you an ex-smoker? How did you quit? Just decided I wasn't a smoker one day.
I come from an age when smoking was normal. We were allowed to smoke at school in your own room - imagine that! People smoked on trains and planes without any separation from those who didn't. People at meals would light up between courses. Taking a cigarette break was an important way to rest during labouring jobs. Tobacco was a form of social generosity. Everyone would share their smoking with those around them. It broke the ice. It was a small component to one's personal style. I used to smoke Gauloises. The slow tap of a cigarette out of the soft packet was a momentous pause for effect. I've used the silver foil from packets to fix the electrics of cars and get home from wastelands (few 24hr garages then). The cardboard cigarette packet was a notepad and an emergency container. On long travels one could do without food as long as one had tobacco. I happily hiked the Pyrenees with only a blanket and packs of thin hand-rolled Dutch cheroots for company. The glorious cigarette after hard sport was a genuine joy (though now known as the worst possible smoke to have). The smoking age has gone, to be replaced by better joys. Now that the smoker really stands out in the environment we can really see how foul a habit it is. I'm glad the public element to smoking is disappearing at last. |
| It is 5 pm on a typical Sunday: what are you doing? Playing Pelmanism with my daughter |
| Something in which you are completely incompetent. Nothing |
| Of what are you an addict? Nothing |
| You have nine wins in a row in a game of roulette: do you continue because you are on a good run, or abandon the game because statistically, it is your turn to lose? I don't think much of roulette, and don't bet on it or games like it, but runs of luck do happen in every game of chance. In a run, I'd probably reduce the bet each time. After 9 wins I'd probably bank the winnings and buy a sailing boat. |
| What toy gave you the best moments of your childhood? Heavy rain, a ditch and a spade |
| What was your first vehicle? A Ford Popular. 6V electrics, headlamps up on the front mudguards, single wind-screen wiper working from the manifold pressure, leather seats, no heater. I bought it in University, beating the seller down from £15 to £12. It came with a sprig of white heather in the grill for good luck. |
| Is there any superstition that makes you change your behaviour? None |
| Does knowing someone's zodiac sign help you to better understand that person? Knowing whatever type people considered themselves to be is important information about them. But I don't think the Zodiac system is very on the point. My own version, the TO8 is much better at making predictions about how people behave within relationships. Go here to get a glimpse of what I am talking about http://www.theoryofeight.com
My book, published 2009 explains in greater detail how I re-draw astrological thinking and connect it to evolutionary psychology.
Essential Personalities, and why humans found love, adapted to monogamy and became better parents ISBN 9780954483142 http://tiny.cc/paeGD |
| Please list something you have not yet done, but that you would definitely like to do someday. Afford a cook |
| To which other place in the world would you move without hesitation? New York |
| A bad habit you have overcome. Walking pigeon-toed |
| A word or expression that you love. diarize. It expresses for me everything that is so wonderful about the English language. English beats all other languages in the way it allows creativity and spur of the moment coinages to be understood as they happen. Break the rules and try to talk inventively in almost any other language your listener will certainly go HUH? But in English, nouns can be adjectives or verbs and the other way around, adverbs and prepositions can be adjectives or nouns, you can mispell, get the word order wrong, apply the wrong grammatical rules and still be understood. Language rules can never stand because it is human creativity and personality expression that drives language use not the other way around. |
| Which animal do you prefer for company? Dog |
| What do you imagine yourself doing for your retirement? It's what I don't imagine myself doing that I think about. I don't imagine myself losing time doing household chores, or DIY, or shopping. |
| If you were to return reincarnated, which real-life person would you like to be? Myself with all that I now know. |
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Andrew Kennedy
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