Reading+and+Reflection+2

Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson Austin Zeimetmedia type="youtube" key="0af00UcTO-c?fs=1" height="229" width="384" align="left" 10-18-2010 EDUC699

Work Cited @http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html

Article Summary This Ted Talk was done by Steven Johnson and in the presentation he discussed how throughout history great ideas have come about. In the beginning of the presentation he talks about how gathering places like coffee houses where great ideas of the Enlightenment were came from. These ideas where not discovered in isolation but by bouncing different thoughts off people to get their feedback. The presenter states that ideas are a network of connected thoughts, "ideas are not new but cobbled together from a lot of thoughts". Mr. Johnson went on to say that most great ideas come to the people in a "slow hunch". This concept of "slow hunch" states that great ideas do not suddenly come to people but simmer in the back of their minds for years, then slowly fade into view. The presenter then gave two examples of this "slow hunch" concept, they where Charles Darwin and global positioning system (GPS).

Reflection/Reaction I enjoyed this presentation by Steven Johnson. I am a fan of history and liked how he went through history and gave examples of how great ideas are not created in isolation but in environments where people bounces thoughts off others and get different points of view and advise. The 21st Century equivalent to the coffee house is web 2.0 tools such as YouTube and Prezi these site offer areas where people can post ideas and thoughts and see what others have to say or can add to their idea. I was interested in; how GPS was started as a group of people messing around trying to follow Sputnik satellite around the globe. Then once others came on board they created a system to track things on Earth from satellite in space. I agreed with Mr. Johnson when he says that the greatest threat to new ideas in this time is the battle between connecting ideas with people versus protecting ideas from people. Now everybody is out to strike it rich and wants to protect every idea from someone stealing it when they could make ideas better by having other people look at their ideas and add on to it. I loved and totally agree with the quote the presenter gave to end his speech, "chance favors the connected mind" and in today’s society web 2.0 tools are how people get connected.