Philosophy
If you're familiar with Steven Johnson's books, you've probably noticed his view that place and social networks have historically played an important role in our understanding of social and intellectual innovation. In his latest book (to be released soon), he finally tackles the question of the origin of good ideas head on, trying to understand the sorts of conditions that are common to periods of disproportionate innovation.
Despite our romantic view of the quirky mathematician who has a spontaneous eureka moment while taking a bath, or the apocryphal story of the lonely genius who figures out the law of gravity after being hit on the head by a falling apple, good ideas are seldom the result of solitary genius let loose. Instead of Archimedes or Newton, Johnson uses Darwin's "slow hunch" as a more realistic model of the emergence of great ideas.
But having a long hunch isn't always enough. It also helps if curious and thoughtful people get to meet and share their ideas with other curious and thoughtful minds, and then let those ideas have sex with each other. It's those intellectual orgies that, Johnson argues, have given rise to truly revolutionary ideas which are more powerful than the sum of their parts. Here is an animated trailer of the upcoming book:
And here is a slightly more detailed explanation of Johnson's main thesis:
Don't forget to check out other fascinating TEDTalks.
.
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Philosophy
Steven Johnson - Where Good Ideas Come From
If you're familiar with Steven Johnson's books, you've probably noticed his view that place and social networks have historically played an important role in our understanding of social and intellectual innovation. In his latest book (to be released soon), he finally tackles the question of the origin of good ideas head on, trying to understand the sorts of conditions that are common to periods of disproportionate innovation.Despite our romantic view of the quirky mathematician who has a spontaneous eureka moment while taking a bath, or the apocryphal story of the lonely genius who figures out the law of gravity after being hit on the head by a falling apple, good ideas are seldom the result of solitary genius let loose. Instead of Archimedes or Newton, Johnson uses Darwin's "slow hunch" as a more realistic model of the emergence of great ideas.But having a long hunch isn't always enough. It also helps if curious and thoughtful people get to meet and share their ideas with other curious and thoughtful minds, and then let those ideas have sex with each other. It's those intellectual orgies that, Johnson argues, have given rise to truly revolutionary ideas which are more powerful than the sum of their parts. Here is an animated trailer of the upcoming book:
And here is a slightly more detailed explanation of Johnson's main thesis:
Don't forget to check out other fascinating TEDTalks.
.
- Einstein's Jewish Science In The New York Times
Einstein's Jewish Science got a very nice review by George Johnson in The New York Times. Gimbel is an engaging writer. In demonstrating the obvious, he takes readers on enlightening excursions through the nature of Judaism, Hegelian philosophy, wherever...
- Random Ironic Occurance Or Comic Design?
The intelligent design crowd thinks that the intricate nature of reality is evidence for the existence of their Creator, but complexity is one thing, an actual joke arising ex nihilo is another: So on the TSA's no-fly list is the name "Robert Johnson."...
- E.o. Wilson - Advice To Young Scientists
"The world needs you, badly." That's how celebrated evolutionary biologist and entomologist E.O. Wilson (also known as Darwin's heir, or the Lord of the Ants) begins this fascinating, amusing and inspirational TEDTalk presentation encouraging...
- When Did This Blog Become (semi) Popular?
This little one-man operation usually gets about a thousand hits a day. I can't tell you how pleased that makes me, especially considering that we're not associated with any cool, popular or powerful organization at all. Hell, I don't even...
- When Nietzsche Wept
I am somewhat conflicted about posting the movie below. On the one hand, since philosophy deals with ideas and abstractions not easily captured through a visual medium, it's difficult to find video material that I can use to expose my intelligent...