This article explicates the idea of conversation as the primary opening for learning to occur in all domains of society. The "age of conversation" emerges in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This historical analysis is followed by a discussion of the features of "good conversations" to create benchmarksfor creating democratic learning cultures at work and in public spaces. The author argues that these benchmarks must be translated into lived reality if people are to create empowered workers and developmental work.