I have problems with the violence and the torture on '24.' What I'm trying to say is that that's not the only story, and I think that the cognitive complexity is as important. Steven Johnson cognitivecomplexityimportant Change image and share on social
Every childhood has its talismans, the sacred objects that look innocuous enough to the outside world, but that trigger an onslaught of vivid memories when the grown child confronts them. Steven Johnson childchildhoodconfront Change image and share on social
In a peer network, no one is officially in charge. It doesn't have a command hierarchy. It doesn't have a boss. So, all the decisions are somehow made collectively. The control of the system is in the hands of everyone who is a part of it. Steven Johnson boschargecollectively share on social
Organizations that empower folks further down the chain or try to get rid of the big hierarchal chains and allow decision making to happen on a more local level end up being more adaptive and resilient because there are more minds involved in the problem. Steven Johnson adaptivebigchain share on social
What I'm saying is individuals have better ideas if they're connected to rich, diverse networks of other individuals. If you put yourself in an environment with lots of different perspectives, you yourself are going to have better, sharper, more original ideas. It's not that the network is smart. Steven Johnson connectdiverseenvironment share on social
For decades, we've worked under the assumption that mass culture follows a steadily declining path toward lowest-common-denominator standards, presumably because the 'masses' want dumb, simple pleasures and big media companies want to give the masses what they want. Steven Johnson assumptionbigcommon share on social
Most of the time, criticism that takes pop culture seriously involves performing some kind of symbolic analysis, decoding the work to demonstrate the way it represents some other aspect of society. Steven Johnson analysisaspectcriticism Change image and share on social
It is extraordinary how safe flying has become. You are now statistically more likely to be elected president of the United States in your lifetime than you are to die in a plane crash. What an amazing achievement as a society! But what we end up focusing on are the catastrophic failures that are incredibly rare but happen every now and then. Steven Johnson achievementamazecatastrophic share on social
If you look at where innovation - defined as ideas, not as commercial product - tends to live, the university system is remarkably innovative. Steven Johnson commercialdefineidea Change image and share on social
If you look at history, innovation doesn't come just from giving people incentives; it comes from creating environments where their ideas can connect. Steven Johnson connectcreateenvironment Change image and share on social