An experiment in synthesizing human wisdom

Looking for a little inspiration? Try flylittlebird.org, a collection of hundreds of speeches given by a hodgepodge of individuals who shape modern life. The speeches — by people like Kofi Annan, Richie Sambora, Toni Morrison, Madeleine Albright, James Wolfensohn, Jane Goodall and others — made to students on their university graduation day, are coded, synthesized and statistically regressed to give you the essential nuggets.

The top five most-mentioned "Keys to the Good Life" were:

• Service; Giving Time to Those in Need
  
• Being Bold/Courageous with Ones' Ideas
  
• Living/Acting with Compassion
  
• Forming and Working Towards Big Dreams
  
• Being Respectful of Those Who Supported Us
  

Bottom of the list:

• Finding a Supportive Spouse

The only drawback is that the speakers are nearly all American, which means that some of the names might be meaningless to you who live in Malaysia, Australia and the UK. Also, the speeches are from 2004, so it's a bit outdated. But the concept is interesting, nonetheless.

[Correction: The speech archive contains speeches dated from 1900-2005, but only the 2004 speeches were coded and analyzed.]