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Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from

  • The water wasn't safe, so the English used drink beer
  • By 1650 they had started drinking tea and coffee and since before they were drunk, the Enlightenment started when tea and coffee spread. 
  • From pub to coffeehouse
  • The architecture of the space allowed ideas to have sex
  • Been studying what environments breed ideas, patterns
  • Chaotic environments
  • Important ideas have long incubation periods, they fade into view
  • Building barricades around ideas - copyright, patenting - which stifles many of them
  • Noodling around, hacking
  • Chance favors the connected mind - ideas that pop into your head by chance because people suggest reasons and uses for your ideas, stimulating your imagination
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