The Development of Technological Innovations

Patrice Flichy urges us to think of discourses—or what he terms imaginaires— as an “integral part of the development of a technical system”. Aside from how an initial idea is crucial, he argues that collective visions and the power of discourses are important parts of the development of our technical system. Expanding on Flichy’s theories, I attached a video called ‘Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson’ and I want to know what you think about these arguments of where technical innovation comes from. In this video, Johnson notes that important ideas take long periods of time to evolve and how it may take 2-3 or even more than 10 years to ensure that an idea is useful and successful. He goes on to talk about how the ‘collision’ of smaller hunches throughout this time leads to successful breakthroughs, giving the example of the World Wide Web. In other words, Tim Berners Lee had no full vision at first but after manifestations of his initial idea and with time, the success of the World Wide Web was a result.  

Johnson highlights some potential problems of innovation in this perspective. Some of these questions include: Are we getting overwhelmed with an always connected-multitasking lifestyle? Is this going to lead to less sophisticated thoughts (since we are more distracted)? Do you think that the internet is killing our creativity? Or do you think that the internet provides us with more ways to build and improve our ideas? 



With these questions in mind, what are your thoughts on the arguments surrounding the development of our technical system?

Comments

  1. Kaelan De Bellefeuille12 February 2018 at 20:36

    I completely agree with the idea of the 'slow hunch' in terms of invention and innovation. Innovation isn't just one person's Eureka moment. It is the accumulation of knowledge and work that over time will lead to a single innovation. This is reminiscent of the "great man" theory in history; which is a false notion. It isn't one person that is the mover-and-shaker of history but it is an accumulation of different things that lead to larger historical events. The slow hunch of innovation is a much better perspective then the "great innovator" view.

    I tend to also agree with the perspective that inter-connectivity and communication have been key in the expansion and increase in innovation. The internet will not lead to the death of creativity but in my opinion actually creates a platform for people to express themselves. As an example, the music platform SoundCloud. This music platform allowed people to share their creativity with other like-minded people. Some musicians garnered quite a bit of success off of this platform. This is one example of several where social media has actually lead to innovative and creative forms of media that can be shared amongst individuals. In my opinion the internet does not stunt creativity but instead gives people a platform to share it with others

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  2. Kristina Kyriakis13 February 2018 at 15:47

    Hello! I truly enjoyed the video shared. In many cases, I believe that people can have brilliant ideas, but they need a partner or friend to assist them in turning an idea into a reality. This video is relevant since we going to school in KW, which is also a mecca for technological innovation. The perspective highlighted in this video, is to communicate an idea for potential innovative growth and it is happening minutes away from the Laurier campus.

    To elaborate more on the possible effects the internet can on humans. Even though the internet has allowed us to communicate endlessly and have access to all the knowledge we could possibly want, there are definitely negative influences on technology users. Starring at a screen is terrible for ones vision, in my opinion, being followed by advertisements geared to capture your attention can harm creativity, and it can be difficult to formulate sophisticated points of view because on the internet, there are webpages to backup all possible ideas.

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  3. Sarah Cumming25 February 2018 at 21:53

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Sarah Cumming25 February 2018 at 21:55

    I think that the internet gives users the ability to improve on ideas and thoughts since they have the ability to explore and recognize other peoples perspectives. I think the internet is extremely valuable as a space where ideas can compile and grow and change and expand the knowledge of people all around the world. I think that the fact that it is so accessible to us allows us to take advantage of what it offers. If we consider the internet on a more global scale, we can see that it provides people, who we would otherwise never communicate with, the ability to contribute their perspective and their ideas. It allows users to explore and expand on their thoughts, and understand new ways of thinking and creating.

    This ties to him mentioning innovation being rooted in connectivity and our ability to reach out and exchange ideas with other people, further pointing to the value of the internet and the access that it gives us to potentially finding a "half" of an idea in the mind of someone on the other side of the world. Without the internet, this would most likely not be possible, and neither would be finding new and creative ways of thinking.

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