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I've read about half of the book Amazon.com: Where Good Ideas Come From eBook: Steven Johnson: Kindle Store[^] and it reveals some amazing research about how ideas take hold.
An economist wondered would if there was any stats/math that governed generally the spread of ideas.
For example, are there more good ideas from a large city of people than from a smaller population?
Yes, but how those ideas spread is interesting.
Ideas generally spread at a rate where it takes 10 years for them to take hold. 10 years from the initial idea to general acceptance.
Then, suddenly, YouTube. YouTube went from 0 to general acceptance in only 2 years? Why?
The book has a lot of really interesting stories and data.
Has anyone else read it? It's quite fascinating and really interesting about the spread of "good" ideas.
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While sitting on the toilet. That is where the best ideas come from....the toilet, through your 4th point of contact, and into your brain.
Scientific and medicalific fact. duh.
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Slacker007 wrote: Scientific and medicalific fact
It's 100% proven by Science!!! 
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raddevus wrote: Then, suddenly, YouTube.
The internet in general, actually.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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RyanDev wrote: The internet in general,
Yeah, it's true the Internet really does help ideas spread. But even with the communication infrastructure of the Internet, certain ideas just take hold much quicker.
It just so happens that YouTube was one that broke the barrier first.
Probably due to :
1. great idea
2. low barriers to entry
3. you can be a passive user -- click and watch
But it was also because of the way they made it very easy to share videos and promote them further.
Interesting stuff.
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raddevus wrote: t's true the Internet really does help ideas spread.
Which is both wonderful and terrible. 
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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RyanDev wrote: Which is both wonderful and terrible
Well said.
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raddevus wrote: But it was also because of the way they made it very easy to share videos and promote them further.
Yes, because the world really needed 50,000,000 instructional videos on "how to take a phone out of the box you bought it in", "how to use a jug to pour a glass of water", and "how to scratch your nose".
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I'll have to take your word on some of the topics. What on earth are you searching for? I never get results of such poor quality.
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I may have exaggerated a little, but search for your phone/another gadget on youtube, and you'll cry with despair.
And that's not to mention the really ridiculous ones, like over three million people telling you how to boil an egg, or the half million telling you how to make toast.
Anything that even the most incapable and stupid person could do without thinking hard, there's bound to be hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of videos for it.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Naturally, I'd hoped the report to contain rampant exaggeration.
But I agree - the topics covered and volume of youtube videos on the most innane of topics is mind-boggling. I often wonder if the way I view these with disbelief and a lack of understanding is anything like the state experienced by those that view what we can do with computers as mystical.
Whatever. It means I walk away curious and wondering, rather than disgusted and downhearted.
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raddevus wrote: Ideas generally spread at a rate where it takes 10 years for them to take hold.
Huh? Since when? The first nylon stockings were made in 1939 and were essentials by the summer of 1941. People were clamouring for 'moving pictures' almost as soon as the technology was created. The professional Frisbee was born in 1964 and the International Frisbee Association and Ultimate Frisbee in 1967. The Football Association Laws of the game were drafted in 1863 and were the standard for International competition by 1866. I could go on, literally for days, with more examples.
The Internet's influence on the speed of idea transmission is indisputable but vastly overrated. It may have increased the speed with which we hear stuff from days to seconds but the human propensity for faddishness is little changed in reality.
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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9082365 wrote: Frisbee was born in 1964
There's actually a lot more history to the frisbee which puts it way past 10 years.
History of the Frisbee[^]
The book is talking about the time from the initial idea of the original thinker to it taking off in the general population. Think a bit more broadly. Not the time a few people first heard of it. When a technology is initially created it is often known about for many years before all the things come together to move it in a big way.
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Ahem. I didn't say Frisbee. I said Professional Frisbee. The good idea was to turn the flying disc from an unstable plaything into an an aerodynamically sound, stable and more easily controlled piece of sports equipment.
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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Since when?
Since the idea of cherry-picking data came about, of course!
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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The very, very, best, dazzlingly brilliant ideas come when I've got nothing to write them down with.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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So true. So many fantastic ideas lost to time all due to the lack of pen and paper. 
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Define "good idea".
Peter Wasser
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell
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If you insist.
#define idea(good)
Happy now?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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That's a good point.
The author admits that this is more about studying the environment that creates good ideas and that good ideas are based upon ideas that we can look at in retrospect which produced something that a "large" number of people accepted as good ideas. But, of course, the majority always know a good idea when they smell one. Great ideas are often rejected and terrible ideas are often accepted. 
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It even can be more interesting, where the good ideas go to...
I was once part of a team developing a mechanical part for a shower, that would stop water flow when water is too hot...It was a big deal, as it is very cheap to assembly, need no external source, easy to use and hold for years...
We even got 2 minutes on the news!
So...the big company promised promises an bought the idea...The big company still selling the same, expensive, electronic device it used to...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Interesting story, thanks for sharing.
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The answer is Bird of prey.
Raptured - lose political institution - EU, backward UE (although not sure this was neccessary), -> Raptrd, also lose drive (D, in an automatic car) -> Raptr
Now gain nothing (O) -> Raptor
Aviator = bird (to distinguish from Velociraptor or similar)
And finally, a raptor is more commonly known as a bird of prey.
Looks like I'm back up for Monday  ?
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