Chance Favors The Connected Mind.

This Is How Great Intellectual Breakthroughs Usually Happen In Practice. It Is Rarely The Isolated Genius Having A Eureka Moment Alone In The Lab. Nor Is It Merely A Question Of Building On Precedent, Of Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants, In Newton's Famous Phrase. Great Breakthroughs Are Closer To What Happens In A Flood Plain: A Dozen Separate Tributaries Converge, And The Rising Waters Lift The Genius High Enough That He Or She Can See Around The Conceptual Obstructions Of The Age.

We Are Often Better Served By Connecting Ideas Than We Are By Protecting Them.

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.

That Strange New Zone Between Medium And Message. That Zone We Call The Interface.

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.