Curioxoma

¿Xoma!

ThinkIA · a tool invented by Engel Fonseca to test SPH VS SPH or SPH VS SPA

A question that can only be answered with another question that already contains the answer.

A game from the Curioxoma method to train curiosity as a professional skill: think about how you think, sustain attention and leave no room for indifference.

Start a ¿Xoma!

A playful cognitive experience created by Engel Fonseca, expert in cognitive neuroscience and digital transformation, author of Curioxoma and partner at the Centro de Neurociencias Avanzadas, Hospital Ángeles del Pedregal (Mexico City).

What a complete ¿Xoma! looks like

Every answer arrives disguised as a question. The chain ends when someone finally makes a statement.

  1. AnaWhy do we get bored in meetings?
  2. LuisCould it be because everything that happens in them is predictable?
  3. AnaAnd if the predictable switches off attention, shouldn’t we add something unexpected?
  4. LuisIsn’t the unexpected exactly what sparks the team’s curiosity?
  5. Ana · closes with a statementYes. The next meeting opens with a question nobody expects.

Curiosity, professionalized

Curioxoma treats curiosity as a skill you train, not a character trait. Every ¿Xoma! forces the mind to observe its own reasoning —that is metacognition— and that habit increases personal intelligence. What takes it away has a name: indifference.

Benefits of Curioxoma

Learn better
To ask with the answer inside, you first have to understand it.
Learn more
Each link opens a new angle on the same topic instead of closing it.
Connect
Listening to the other is mandatory: your question depends on theirs.
Optimize attention
Attention is the scarce resource; the game focuses it on a single line of thought.
Attention, the most valuable resource on the planet Audio summary · 1 min · Read the article (Spanish)

What neutralizes it

Indifference
It is the opposite of love and curiosity: it doesn’t react, doesn’t learn, doesn’t connect.
Generalizing
It kills interest in what is particular about each person and situation.
The predictable
The linear and stiff switches off the brain and takes away its joy.
The superficial
Without depth there is no connection or credibility.

How to play

In pairs, in teams or in front of a group. All you need is a topic and the discipline not to make statements too soon.

  1. Launch the ¿Xoma!

    Someone opens with a real question about a topic that matters.

  2. Answer by asking

    The next person replies with another question that contains their answer. The group decides whether it truly does.

  3. Deepen the chain

    Each question must go deeper or open a different angle. Repeating doesn’t count.

  4. Close with a statement

    The exercise ends when someone answers with a statement or after 10 questions.

What is a Human Thinking System?

An SPH (Sistema de Pensamiento Humano, Human Thinking System) is the cognitive, ethical and methodological architecture of your mind: the unique way you process the world and reach your conclusions. It is not what you know, it is how you think. Engel Fonseca maps it with his Thinktech method of technological metacognition.

Cube representing a Human Thinking System with red dots representing thoughts
The cube can represent your mind and the red dots your thoughts.

The five elements that shape it

Thoughts
The premises and deductions you reason your field with.
Feelings and emotions
How you gauge the impact of your decisions.
Paradigms
The underlying beliefs you interpret reality with.
Fears
The cognitive barriers and risks worth recognizing.
Values
The non-negotiable principles that govern your ethics and decisions.

SPH + SPA = algoritYO

An SPA (Sistema de Pensamiento Artificial, Artificial Thinking System) is AI’s capacity to process information and run logical patterns. If you don’t give it an SPH, it improvises a generic framework. When you share how you think, the AI becomes a reflection of your mental architecture: your algoritYO (algorithMe).

Why it matters

Data without a human reasoning framework lacks depth. In the age of AI, know-how (how you think) is worth more than know-what (what you know).

Person (SPH) vs Person (SPH)

Two human minds face to face: each player brings their own Human Thinking System.

VS Engel Fonseca M.’s SPA · an SPA

Your SPH against an Artificial Thinking System that encodes Engel’s SPH. Only those who think like him win.

This site is a ThinkIA: a tool invented by Engel Fonseca to test one SPH against another SPH (Person vs Person) or an SPH against an SPA (VS Engel Fonseca M.’s SPA).

Read the full article in Neurona Magazine (Spanish) · Play VS Engel Fonseca M.’s SPA

Play a ¿Xoma!

Choose how to play. Person (SPH) vs Person (SPH): two or more human minds take turns; if it ends in “?”, the chain continues, and it closes when someone makes a statement or after 10 questions. VS Engel Fonseca M.’s SPA: you play against an SPA, an Artificial Thinking System that encodes Engel’s SPH; 10 questions measure how closely the way you think matches his.

Players:
00:00
Open with one of these, or write your own

    No questions yet.

    Player 1’s turn

    Enter to send · Shift+Enter for a new line

    ¿Xoma! closed

    0chained questions
    0:00of sustained attention
    —closed the ¿Xoma!

    Curiosity assessment

    Your mind as a network

    How to read your mind network

      Topic map

      Now the metacognitive part

      • What answer was hidden inside each question?
      • At which link did the angle of the topic change?
      • Did the final statement come at the right time, or did someone close in a hurry?

      Challenge someone with your opening question

      Triggers and antidotes

      From the article “Indifference is your brand’s number one enemy”: what switches curiosity off and what switches it back on.

      Triggers indifferenceCounteracts it
      Generalizing

      Treating everything the same erases what makes each situation unique.

      Explore each noema

      Look for new angles to contemplate the same object.

      Vagueness

      What is unclear doesn’t earn the mind’s energy.

      Depth

      Going deeper makes any topic credible and close.

      The boring

      Linear, predictable, stiff: the brain switches off.

      Random thinking

      The unexpected prompts branching, systemic thinking.

      Confusing repetition with experience

      Repetition helps you master something, until it bores you.

      Questioning as a habit

      A ¿Xoma! turns every familiar topic into territory to explore.

      Read the full article in Neurona Magazine (Spanish)

      Watch the talk that gave birth to Curioxoma

      At TEDxGarzaGarcia, Engel Fonseca explains why curiosity is the best tool against disconnection and why the simplest questions are the ones that open the mind the most (talk in Spanish).

      About the author. Engel Fonseca is an expert in cognitive neuroscience and digital transformation, author of the Curioxoma method and partner at the Centro de Neurociencias Avanzadas, Hospital Ángeles del Pedregal.

      Watch the video on TED
      Engel Fonseca · TEDxGarzaGarcia · 2018
      CurioXoma: a battle against indifference

      Pass on the ¿Xoma! challenge

      Invite your friends to play. Indifference is contagious; so is curiosity.

      Charla simulada con IA

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      Simulación educativa: no son palabras reales del personaje. Verifica en las fuentes.