Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from – Steven Johnson (2010)
Chance favors the connected mind. That was Johnson’s last
sentence in this TED talks presentation in which he spoke about researching
where ideas come from.
He gives points that support the theory that ideas build
slowly over time, that are more likely to happen in chaotic environments (such
as the coffee house in the age of enlightenment in England) and when
people share thoughts and problems, this is also known as the liquid network.
The slow hunch is that an ideas is never just suddenly
one thing that is clear in your head but rather a process that builds over a
period of time slowly. He gave an example of Darwin mentioning in his
autobiography that he came up with the theory of natural selection in an eureka
moment but when a scholar looked at Darwin’s notebooks he found that he had the
theory months before he had the euphony. The point from this is that ideas
build over a period of time.
This is only a very short summary of the TED talk I watched
but you can also read more about it in his book (Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation) and you
can watch this video which is a summary of the book on YouTube, I rather
enjoyed watching it because of the way it explains everything by drawing it.
Most of the ideas I had (Good and bad) didn’t happen
while I’m sitting down and pushing myself to think of an idea, and most of my
ideas I remember having while talking to someone about something unrelated to
the issue and suddenly I would get this idea and usually end up saying out
something unrelated to the conversation and confuse the person I’m talking to.
The other time that I had any good ideas was just before going to sleep when
I’m half awake and when I wake up in the morning if I didn’t write it down I
would wonder if I actually dreamt it. Then there are the ideas, most of these
are at work, when I discuss the issue I’m trying to resolve with a colleague
and find a great new idea together.
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