Serendipity, keeping records, inventing a million things

On page 78 Johnson (Where Good Ideas Come From) begins discussing the role of hunches that are alternatively fed and left on the back burner, and on page 86 he described the notebooks of the Darwins and Joseph Priestley which are filled with hunches and unconnected ideas.

On page 104 Johnson summarizes research and conclusions by Robert Thatcher that, “the more disorganized your brain is, the smarter you are.”

On page 122 Johnson discusses the importance of a “creative walk” for spurring new ideas and making new connections. Johnson suggests that people, “…carve out dedicated periods where you read a large and varied collection of books and essays in a condensed amount of time.” And later, “But there’s no reason why organizations couldn’t recognize the value of a reading sabbatical…”

Johnson himself uses DEVONthink as a tool for collecting his ideas and “an improvisational tool as well.” Page 115

On page 123 Johnson asserts that patents, DRM, IP, trade secrets, proprietary technology claim to support innovation with the assumption, “… in the long run, innovation will increase if you put restrictions on the spread of new ideas, because those restrictions will allow the creators to collect large financial rewards…” Johnson believe “The problem with these closed environments is that they inhibit serendipity and reduce the overall network of minds that can potentially engage with a problem.”

On page 136-137 Johnson quotes and paraphrases William Stanley Jevons’ conclusion that, “The errors of the great mind exceed in number those of the less vigorous one.” In other words, ideas from great thinkers occur in part because those thinkers are always coming up with new ideas, one after another after; their minds don’t create just one great idea – they create scores and scores of ideas, some of which are unfinished, others not pursued, and others which are eventually connected and become brilliant insights or innovations.

The point? Generating new ideas and innovation occurs when people (1) generate lots and lots of ideas, (2) keep track of them, (3) share them with a diverse group, (4) get ideas from a diverse group. There may be a genetic disposition (defect? JK) to write down all your thoughts… and most people don’t live in a community for #3 and #4 (although living in a city makes this easier). So, this is why I am loving Twitter. I have input from a larger, more diverse community than ever before, and this might be making me more creative.