In July 2012, Paul Omerod spoke at the RSA on network effects. He described this as positive linking – but not because the effects of networks are all positive. His contention is that – especially in economics – we tend to be subject to (but over look) network effects. Better attention to this trend could lead to a revolution in our…
On a walk round a forest garden on the Dartington Estate, Devon (November 2008). The guide paused for the groups to catch up – leant down and picked up a log with which he hit the end of another fallen log, hard – several times. Some asked, ‘what are you doing?’ he explained – the rotting log has mushroom spores…
Are innovators a ‘nuisance’? Is innovation a kind of ‘nuisance’? We tend to re-describe ‘nuisance’ as something more benign – virtuous, even – in talk of ‘challenge’, ‘grit in the pearl’, ‘tenacity’ etc But when someone is a nuisance, they are also a pain in the neck. This quality of being-a-nuisance is often described (in ways which defuse the emotion…
In Brazil, when working with Mandalah, I learned about the prevalence of ‘improvisation’ in how Brazilians understand their capacity to innovate – from football, to the ingenuity of surviving life in a favella. There appears to be a national debate about the of improvisation, and the benefits of ‘straight lines’. A catalogue introduction for their Museum of Modern Art in Sao Paulo…
I was sent a TED talk no mistakes on the bandstand by Philip Boxer – we reminisced about jamming. I have forward the link to colleagues, collaborators, clients. Vibes’ player, Stefon Harris describes the bandstand as a special place, incredible and purifying, where…. there is no chance to think about the future or the past there are so many decisions being made…
Slingshot