Where Good Ideas Come From By Steven Johnson

Mehak Chopra
4/23/13
Writing 1
Professor Lemon We all have great ways to learn and create new ideas. Some like to go for a walk and think about things and others like to be at their comfort of their homes. Once we have an idea, we like to draw our ideas and go to the next step. But never do we think about how did we get the idea what brought us to our solution? Steven Johnson has wrote a book Where Good Ideas Come From and has written about different patterns that brings us to new ideas, and how Serendipity, liquid networking, and adjacent possible has a big significance with our new thoughts and the movie exit through the gift shop plays an significant role with these patterns. In the book Where Good Ideas Come From Steven Johnson explains a pattern called serendipity, which simply means ideas sometimes arise from happy accidents and hunches connect in an unexpected way and how this coincidence taken people far. In approach to this pattern Johnson uses ethos and states, “German scientist otto lowei isolated two still beating frog heard in separate vessels containing a saline solution. In one heart, he attached an electrode to the vagus nerve, which in an intact body starts in the brain stem and extends throughout the body. Because the vagus nerve with an electric charge slowed the heartbeat down. Loewi then extracted some of the solution that
surrounded the heart and poured it over the second heart.
Instantly the second heart began to beat more slowly. Loewi’s experiments, as influential as it was, are now remembered as much for the curious way of Loewi conceived of it. The idea
for the experiment came to Loewi in a dream.” Loewis experiment was not planned but yet it was all a coincidence. Another great example was from the movie exit through the gift shop Mr. Brainwash has a moment of serendipity by chance when he video records his cousin making Art Street and doesn’t realize what he can do with it. Although, we might not always have serendipity in our lives but it is always a pro to have because it will never let us loose hope. By asserting this pattern Johnson wants to show us the significance that sometimes using all your hard work and effort is not needed and sometimes ideas just come to individuals when they least expect it so it is best to never loose faith. Steven Johnson uses another pattern in his book called the liquid networks, which means the patterns have stability, but they are incapable of changes, but the liquid network creates promising environment for the system to explore the adjacent possible. In approach to this method Johnson uses ethos and states “ The most striking discovery in Dunbar’s study turned out to be the physical location where most of the important breakthrough occurred. With science like molecular biology we inevitably have an image in our heads of the scientist alone in the lab, hunched over a microscope and stumbling across a major new finding, but Dunbar’s study showed that those isolated eureka moments were rarities. Instead most important ideas emerged during regular lab meetings, where a dozen or so researchers would gather informally present and discuss their latest work.” Sometimes having different environments can really help our brain with new ideas. Although, we always think it is best to study at our comfortable spots it is always an advantage to try new places. By asserting this device Johnson wants to show us the significance that we might not be able to completely change a concept but doing the concept in different ways is always possible, and if you want new ideas the best way to get them is by changing your environment. Another great pattern Steven Johnson uses in his book is the adjacent possible, which means learning from other peoples ideas, or previous ideas of our own, that we come up with new ways of seeing the world, Johnsons main point is to show us we learn from others, and we can always look for ways to do better. In approach to this pattern Johnson uses ethos and states “ Wandering past the elephants and reptiles and classical gardents of zoo’s home inside the Jardin des Plantes, Tarnier stumbled across an exhibit of chicken incubators, seeing the hatchling totter about in the incubators warm enclosure triggered an association in his head and before long he had hired Odile Martin, the zoos pultry raiser, to construct a device that would perform a similar function for human newborns. Tarniers incubator was not the first device employed for warming newborns, and the contraption he built with Martin would be improved upon significantly in the subsequent decades.” Even though Tarnier did not think of the incubator machine, he saved the newborns lives by using that incubator on humans. Another great example of adjacent possible is from the movie exit through the gift shop, Thierry’s cousin has the obsession of street art; him getting inspired was originally by other people. Although, a lot of us feel like the best way to have our thoughts organized is by being alone and trying to figure it out by ourselves but the best way to get more ideas and expanding is by working with others. By asserting this pattern and using the movie, as an example the significance with them both is that our ideas are brought from others, and with generations growing and expanding learning from others and advancing is always beneficial. We all have different ways to create ideas, some patterns work for some individuals and for some it does not work. Individuals just need to figure out what works for them, working, as a team is always helpful having variety of opinions together to have a bigger and better outcome.