Open and chaotic spaces are key to producing innovation, that is, good ideas. Although it can sound strange to you that the architecture of the space and coffee preference over alcohol do that people to connect the thoughts of points, indeed it causes creative ideas as the historical evidence shed light on. For example, Steven Johnson claims Enlightenment was caused by a chaotic environment such as England Coffee Houses in the 1600s.

You may be thinking stimulants are better than depressants obviously, however, people who are wakened are not enough to write or say quality ideas. It might only send shivers down to throng and waste resources such-and-such wrong ideas.

Big ideas doesn’t come from Euroka, Flash, Epiphany, or Lightbulb moments, but instead, ideas came from the sex of thoughts following natural selection, arising from simple ideas to complex ones and dwelling on a network of experiences.

What is an idea? An idea is a network of thoughts the different people who have different interests, talents, and knowledge that emerges after a long time. What is a good idea? One that is not so obvious to experts. Therefore, we must encourage connecting people and ideas, but not protecting by Intelectual Property or Copyright because august acquaintance doesn’t jibe with closed conceptions or inventions.

We make the most out of ideas as Johnson suggests by collaborating with others insofar as you and your partners fit on common knowledge, be experts in their fields, be smart, and have the tools to do it. Otherwise, the crowd miles off and say murky things that always go nowhere —is IA consciousness? Does god exist? Is X good?

In another hand, institutions such as Bell Labs, MIT, or Institute for Advanced Study arise and change the paradigm as long as they own mechanisms to attract intelligent people, have millions of dollars, and strict filters to discard quixotic people plus challenges and liberty; thereby, they can produce awesome things in no time. Also, we ought not to ignore geniuses who can think alone and produce ideas better than the whole mass —Claude Shannon, Isaac Newton, or Ramanujan. They stood on the shoulders of giants by reading books and papers but not talking too much with their peers. Why if others say jejune thoughts systematically, do you have to listen to them? They could have thought.

Hence, ideas are the effect of a network of people, work, and resources, but the best ideas are the product of the gravitational attraction force of big institutions and geniuses.

References

Johnson, S. (2011). Where good ideas come from: The natural history of innovation. Penguin.

Johnson, S. (2023, April 15). Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from | TED Talk. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from

Gertner, J. (2012). The idea factory: Bell Labs and the great age of American innovation. Penguin.

Gates, B. (2011). It’s not always a eureka moment. Gatesnotes. Retrieved from https://www.gatesnotes.com/Where-Good-Ideas-Come-From