by Jeff | Jul 30, 2016 | Uncategorized, Where Good Ideas Come From Book
Just to recap, a network is an adaptable number of connections. The neurons in your brain are a network because there are a large number of connections and because it’s adaptable – new connections can be made. In the same way that your noggin is the place where your...
by Jeff | Jul 30, 2016 | Uncategorized, Where Good Ideas Come From Book
An idea is a connection. When someone thinks to make baby incubators out of spare car parts, they are connecting a network of ideas: how incubators work, how car engines work, and the design constraints presented by the developing world. Even fundamental technologies...
by Jeff | Jul 30, 2016 | Uncategorized, Where Good Ideas Come From Book
Johnson references a great scene from Apollo 13 to illustrate a point about the Adjacent Possible. If you’re an engineer or a tinkerer, you probably love this scene too. The mission control group is trying to help the astronauts solve a problem. They essentially have...
by Jeff | Jul 30, 2016 | Uncategorized, Where Good Ideas Come From Book
Here’s a quick post to help reinforce this concept of the Adjacent Possible. There have been many times in history where people have discovered the same thing at the same time, independently: the first electrical battery; sun spots; the law of the conservation of...
by Jeff | Jul 30, 2016 | Strategy Page, Uncategorized, Where Good Ideas Come From Book
The scientist Stuart Kauffman calls the “adjacent possible” the set of all first-order combinations or possibilities that exist at the perimeter of the current state. Let’s break that down. Steven Johnson uses this analogy: Imagine you’re in a room with 4 doors. Your...
by Jeff | Jul 30, 2016 | Strategy Page, Uncategorized, Where Good Ideas Come From Book
Time after time, inventions come from someone combining existing stuff – ideas, spare parts, technologies – in a new, original way. Or, similarly, a new idea or insight is realized by looking at some thing through the lens of a different perspective. In short, the...
