Where good ideas come from

(a book by Steven Johnson)

With this new book, Steven Johnson re-connects with his previous bestseller: "Everything Bad is Good for You" and the more recent: "The Invention of Air" which we liked so much, and posted about quite a bit here and there.

We also love the way Riverhead Books is sharing this ...amazing visualization.

Key Considerations*

* from the book I was reading today: CLEAR and to THE POINT by Stephen M. Kosslyn
QUOTE:
" The following is reputed to be an actual transcript of a radio conversation between a Canadian communications officer and a U.S. naval vessel, recorded off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995:

Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision.
Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the Captain of a U.S. Navy ship. I say again, divert your course.
Canadians: No. I say again, you divert your course.
Americans: This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the United States' Atlantic fleet! We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers, and numerous support vessels. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees north, that's one-five degrees north, or counter-measures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship!
Canadians: We are a lighthouse. Your call!"
UNQUOTE.

Off to read the rest of the book after a good laugh, reflecting on the current waters many formerly acclaimed Finance guru's might be surfing these days, especially those who thought they were sailing with astounding support vessels, navigating substantial truths that would always stand.

Some like John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid refer to this as "tunnel vision" and "tunneling ahead"... topic for another post.

Kosslyn presents this "web posted joke" also quoted by others on academic gatherings as he informs on the book, as a good example of "bad navigation maps". He states that there is no point in blaming the participants "for their attitudes or communication skills". Regardless of nationality factors -in the current global mix migrants are in fact the largest population- given a group of authoritative individuals working together as a team, they will most likely support a chosen common path strongly. To the point that even if presented with proof that they were "not seeing what they thought they were seeing..." it would be very difficult and a major challenge for any of them to see differently. Likewise, if any of them did become aware of a need for urgent change in their navigation (thinking) course... it would be seemingly difficult to speak up, even more to convince the rest following group pressure factors.

For a good example on this, go check the site of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: Hearing on the Role of Federal Regulators in the Financial Crisis.

Humans could use a strong meta-logue mechanism to alert us when we're following badly configured "maps". Indeed, we have such a protocol and it's called science, sound analytical tools and rigorous financial metrics ... but we seldom apply them when there are huge "hush" "hush" group interests or other political or belief factors involved.