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Where Do Good Ideas Come from

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Submitted By takingflight
Words 569
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Summarizing a Video and Citing Sources
GS 1145 Strategies for the Technical Professional

October 13, 2014

The narrator Steven Johnson in the video “Where Good Ideas Come From” identifies several relevant situations (patterns) that he believes led to unusual levels of innovation or creativity. The introduction defines that Johnson looked for a shared/signature behavior or recurring patterns of innovations from the history of first cities to the biodiversity of coral reefs and rainforests. He said that these environments involved unusual levels of innovation.
Through Johnson’s research and his quest for where good ideas are formulated, he mentioned certain moments of inspirations such as: a flash of insight, stroke of insight, epiphany, eureka, and lightbulb moments. However, he said that these moments share the basic assumption that an idea is a single thing. From here Johnson goes on to share situations (patterns) where he thinks good ideas are fostered:
The Liquid Network: Johnson discussed that in early historical times that at a political dinner in a tavern provided a space or environment where a lot of ideas happened and it’s similar to coffeehouses of today. He also mentioned that the first coffeehouse in Oxford, England played a role in British culture for providing a space for not only consuming coffee but also a multi-space were people with different disciplines and backgrounds met to discuss anything from science to politics. Another example he used with regards to a work group situation: instead of having a “eureka moment” in a science lab looking through a microscope or standing at the watercooler…ideas generally came together when the information was shared at the conference room table. There was this real sense of bouncing ideas off each other or I would say a melding of the minds.
The Slow Hunch: This suggests that ideas are developed during

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