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Class project for NJCU Using Intergrated Software Across the Curriculum
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WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM
Observations from Steven Johnson’s
BchimentoNJCU 4004EDTC625 Using Intgr Sftwr Across Curr Dr. Shamburg
Johnson, S. (2010). Where Good Ideas Come From. New York: Riverhead (Penguin).
Darwin’s Paradox Darwin’s Paradox – so many different
life forms, occupying such a vast array of ecological niches, inhabiting waters that are otherwise remarkably nutrient-poor.
http://www.coralreefinfo.com/
Klieber’s law
As life gets bigger – it slows down “Negative-quarter-power scaling” Mass vs. metabolism Equal number of heartbeats – just
takes bigger animal longer to use theirs up
Energy and transportation growth follow Kleiber’s laws, BUT
As cities get bigger, they generate ideas at an even faster clip.
Ideas increase with population, Ideas per capita increase. Geoffrey West - but innovation and
creativity is 17 times bigger in city 10 times bigger.
Man-made environments
10/10 Rule 1920 – first AM radio station Late 1920’s – AM radios in American homes
1950’s-first color broadcast (NBC Tournament of Roses Parade)
1960’s- color broadcast become the norm
1969 – Sony creates VCR Early 1980’s – VCR become staples in homes
DVD, cell phones, personal computers, GPS – all basically follow the 10/10 rule.
YouTube
Within 16 months of the company’s founding, YouTube was streaming over 30 million videos a day
Why did it grow so fast?
http://www.youtube.com/
Adjacent Possible
http://emergentfool.com/2010/03/11/the-adjacent-possible/
Just at the reach of making a discoverySome bit of information or idea or learning is missingOther pieces need to fall into place first
Zone of Proximal Development
http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/constructivism.htm
The path of evolution is a continual exploration of the adjacent possible.
Single carbon atom
Compounds Cells Tissue Organisms Plant/Animal/
Mineral
http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/211_fall2010.web.dir/andy_chamberlain/firstpage.html
Evolution of Good ideas
Good ideas are not conjured out of thin air; they are built out of a collection of existing parts, the composition of which expands (and, occasionally, contracts) over time
How to develop good ideas
Liquid Network Serendipity Slow hunches Error Noise Exaptations Platforms
Liquid Network Not so rigid that ideas
can’t grow and develop
Not so much space where ideas can’t reach each other.
Free flow of ideas allows ideas to connect, grow, reconnect with others.
Liquid networks complete ideas.
Serendipity
You have to set out in good faith for elsewhere and lose you bearings serendipitously.
Go for a walk, take a shower/bath - remove yourself from the problem; get into an associative state.
According to NYTimes, web has pushed culture toward more serendipitous encounters.
Slow Hunch
Hunch that developed over time is more common than sudden flash of inspiration
Have to keep hunch alive Keep a journal or commonplace book
and review it to refresh your hunch Sleeping on the problem actually
helps
Error Spark gap telegraph led to the invention
of vacuum tubes, which in turn led to computers, television, etc.
Fleming discovered penicillin by bacteria accidentally entering his lab
Error in reaching for a resistor led from an oscillator that recorded heartbeats to the pacemaker that regulates them
Noise
Albert Einstein has been considered the patron saint of useful messiness, and once stated “The cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind; what does an empty desk sign?
http://unclutterer.com/2008/06/11/in-praise-of-a-little-mess-be-a-little-scruffy/
Exaptation
Defined as using a feature or structure for something other than its original intended purpose.
Ex. In Indonesia, Timothy Prestero redesigned neonatal incubators out of automobile parts because the locals had access to and knowledge of automobile engines.
Platforms
Tim Berners-Lee Side project at CERN Academic use Military (ARPANET) HTML WorldWideWeb In an open platform, good ideas can
come from anywhere.
Good ideas as developed in House,M.D.
http://www.housemd-guide.com/season3/316secret.php
http://www.housemd-guide.com/season7/716out-chute.php
Build a tangled web
An idea does not pass from a single neuron to another single neuron in the brain. Instead it is jumps across the liquid network and connects and reconnects with multiple neurons.
http://plantinglines.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html