Where Do Good Ideas Come From?

Interesting show on NPR talking about what innovation looks like.  The metaphor of the light bulb going off, or the Eureka! moment paint a picture of ides as singular and original, but in reality innovation may be a more dynamic process of layering findings and ideas.  This notion doesn't fit with the American patent system at all.

The show is quite interesting, particularly the third segemnt which can be found here.

Essentially ideas and innnovation involve three key concepts:

• Ideas are borrowed, shared, and built on others' ideas
• Interaction is key
• Sobriety. It helped when people started drinking coffee or tea instead of getting sauced all day when alcohol was a means of dealing with unsanitarty drinking water.  

Coffee houses served as hubs for the exchange of ideas about politics, philosophy, technology and science. Steve Johnson argues that it wasn't just the lack of alcohol, but the proxemics of the space which supported the interaction of people from different backgrounds and expertise. 

So where do these conversations take place today?  On list serves?  Bulletin boards?  On the Google Bus or on Facebook (haha I joke!)?  If it is Davos and Ted Talks we're in trouble, because these types of settings are self-selecting and filter out the kinds of people who can offer new, outside perspectives.  Even confining interactions to within a private company could prove problematic.  These disruptive insights are valuable, yet they might not make it through the filter. 

Locations don't need to be physical, though there is value in face-to-face exchange.  How do we design spaces for these types of interactions to happen? What about in a society with increasing inequality?  We need to address and think through where good ideas come from if we want to ensure that good ideas can generate even better ones.