Steven Berlin Johnson
Encyclopedia
Steven Berlin Johnson is an American
popular science
author
.
as a youth. He completed his undergraduate degree at Brown University
, where he studied semiotics
, a part of Brown's modern culture and media department. He also has a graduate degree from Columbia University
in English literature.
, and most recently the hyperlocal media site outside.in. A contributing editor to Wired, he writes regularly for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal
, The Financial Times, and many other periodicals. Johnson also serves on the advisory boards of a number of Internet-related companies, including Meetup.com, Betaworks, and Nerve.
He is the author of the best-selling book, Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter (2005)
, which argues that over the last three decades popular culture artifacts (like television dramas and video games) have become increasingly complex and have helped to foster higher-order thinking skills.
His most recent book is entitled Where Good Ideas Come From and advances the notion that innovative thinking is a slow and gradual process based on the concept of the "slow hunch" rather than an instant moment of inspiration. He expostulates on the concept of the "adjacent possible" which enables the thinker to develop uncharted insights into unexplored areas.
1) The adjacent possible: The inventor must use the components that exist in his environment.
Gutenberg
used a wine press for his printing press. Engineers used analog vacuum tubes to make digital computers.
2) Liquid networks:
Large cities, and now the Internet, make it possible for loose, informal networks to form, and these enable discoveries.
3) The slow hunch:
It can take years for a hunch to blossom into a full-blown invention.
4) Serendipity:
Some examples are mentioned: LSD
, Teflon, Viagra, etc. Johnson argues that serendipity is not really under threat from Google
, etc.
5) Error:
This can also be a creative force. Lee de Forest
's development of the audion
diode and the triode was the result of erroneous thinking, and de Forest never understood how they worked. But they inventions changed the world.
6) Exaption:
Birds developed feathers to keep warm and regulate their body temperature and later used them for flight. Vacuum tubes were developed for long-distance telephone networks and radio transmission and were later used for electronic computers. This story was repeated with transistors.
7) Platforms: It's unclear what this word refers to. He gives the example of the development of the Transit (satellite)
, a precursor of GPS by the Applied Physics Laboratory
.
. His book The Ghost Map was one of the ten best nonfiction books of 2006 according to Entertainment Weekly
, and was runner up for the National Academies Communication award in 2006. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
Johnson was the 2009 Hearst New Media Professional-in-Residence at The Journalism School, Columbia University, and served for several years as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU’s Journalism School. He won a Newhouse School Mirror Award for his TIME
magazine cover article titled "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live." He has appeared on many high-profile television programs, including The Colbert Report, The Charlie Rose Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
.
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
popular science
Popular science
Popular science, sometimes called literature of science, is interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is broad-ranging, often written by scientists as well as journalists, and is presented in many...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
.
Education
Steven Johnson attended the prestigious St. Albans SchoolSt. Albans School (Washington, D.C.)
St. Albans School is an independent college preparatory school for boys in grades 4–12, located in Washington, D.C. The school is named after Saint Alban, traditionally regarded as the first British martyr. Within the St...
as a youth. He completed his undergraduate degree at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, where he studied semiotics
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
, a part of Brown's modern culture and media department. He also has a graduate degree from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in English literature.
Career
Johnson is the author of seven books on the intersection of science, technology and personal experience. He has also co-created three influential web sites: the pioneering online magazine FEED, the Webby-Award-winning community site, Plastic.comPlastic.com
Plastic.com was an internet forum for news and discussion of events and issues. The site was community-driven, with readers moderating discussions, submitting stories, and participating in their selection.Its motto was 'Recycling the Web in Real Time'....
, and most recently the hyperlocal media site outside.in. A contributing editor to Wired, he writes regularly for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, The Financial Times, and many other periodicals. Johnson also serves on the advisory boards of a number of Internet-related companies, including Meetup.com, Betaworks, and Nerve.
He is the author of the best-selling book, Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter (2005)
Everything Bad is Good for You
Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter is a non-fiction book written by Steven Berlin Johnson. Published in 2005, it is based upon Johnson's theory that popular culture – in particular television shows and video games – has grown more complex and...
, which argues that over the last three decades popular culture artifacts (like television dramas and video games) have become increasingly complex and have helped to foster higher-order thinking skills.
His most recent book is entitled Where Good Ideas Come From and advances the notion that innovative thinking is a slow and gradual process based on the concept of the "slow hunch" rather than an instant moment of inspiration. He expostulates on the concept of the "adjacent possible" which enables the thinker to develop uncharted insights into unexplored areas.
"Where Good Ideas Come From"
This 2010 book (see bibliography below) adduces seven conditions that enable discoveries and inventions, each of which gets its own chapter:1) The adjacent possible: The inventor must use the components that exist in his environment.
Gutenberg
Gutenberg
Gutenberg may refer to:People:* Johannes Gutenberg , inventor of movable type printing* Beno Gutenberg , a German-born seismologist* Erich Gutenberg , a German economistPlaces:...
used a wine press for his printing press. Engineers used analog vacuum tubes to make digital computers.
2) Liquid networks:
Large cities, and now the Internet, make it possible for loose, informal networks to form, and these enable discoveries.
3) The slow hunch:
It can take years for a hunch to blossom into a full-blown invention.
4) Serendipity:
Some examples are mentioned: LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
, Teflon, Viagra, etc. Johnson argues that serendipity is not really under threat from Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, etc.
5) Error:
This can also be a creative force. Lee de Forest
Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest was an American inventor with over 180 patents to his credit. De Forest invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that takes relatively weak electrical signals and amplifies them. De Forest is one of the fathers of the "electronic age", as the Audion helped to usher in the widespread use...
's development of the audion
Audion
An Audion is a wireless signal detector device invented by Lee De Forest in 1906.Audion may also refer to:* Audion , an electronic music album by Larry Fast* Audion , a media player for Apple Macintosh created by Panic...
diode and the triode was the result of erroneous thinking, and de Forest never understood how they worked. But they inventions changed the world.
6) Exaption:
Birds developed feathers to keep warm and regulate their body temperature and later used them for flight. Vacuum tubes were developed for long-distance telephone networks and radio transmission and were later used for electronic computers. This story was repeated with transistors.
7) Platforms: It's unclear what this word refers to. He gives the example of the development of the Transit (satellite)
Transit (satellite)
The TRANSIT system, also known as NAVSAT , was the first satellite navigation system to be used operationally. The system was primarily used by the U.S...
, a precursor of GPS by the Applied Physics Laboratory
Applied Physics Laboratory
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory , located in Howard County, Maryland near Laurel and Columbia, is a not-for-profit, university-affiliated research center employing 4,500 people. APL is primarily a defense contractor. It serves as a technical resource for the Department of...
.
Awards and affiliations
Johnson’s book Where Good Ideas Come From was a finalist for the 800CEORead award for best business book of 2010, and was ranked as one of the year’s best books by The EconomistThe Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
. His book The Ghost Map was one of the ten best nonfiction books of 2006 according to Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, and was runner up for the National Academies Communication award in 2006. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
Johnson was the 2009 Hearst New Media Professional-in-Residence at The Journalism School, Columbia University, and served for several years as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU’s Journalism School. He won a Newhouse School Mirror Award for his TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine cover article titled "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live." He has appeared on many high-profile television programs, including The Colbert Report, The Charlie Rose Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
PBS NewsHour is an evening television news program broadcast weeknights on the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States. The show is produced by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, a company co-owned by former anchors Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil, and Liberty Media, which owns a 65% stake in the...
.
Personal life
Steven Johnson is married and has three sons. He lives with his family in Marin County, CaliforniaMarin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
.
See also
- GoogleshareGoogleshareGoogleshare is a measure of mindshare based on the results of Google search engine queries. It is a percentage measuring how closely one thing belongs to another according to page counts returned by Google...
- “Where Good Ideas Come From: A Natural History of Innovation” (Riverhead), Steven Johnson focuses on what he calls “the space of innovation.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/business/05shelf.html
External links
- Interview with Roy Christopher, December 2004
- Being There Interview July/August 2006
- TED Talks: Steven Johnson on the Web as a city at TEDTED (conference)TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
in 2003 - TED Talks: Steven Johnson tours the Ghost Map at TED SalonTED (conference)TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
in 2006 - Consilience defeats miasma, Long Now talk audio, May 2007
- Steven Johnson TEDTalk: The Web and the city