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Wednesday
Feb222006
Curiosity and Inertia
Newton’s first law of motion defines the most powerful force in nature - inertia. “Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.” Inertia causes objects in motion to resist change. 
Ideas act just like objects. Every idea in a state of uniform thinking tends to remain in that state of uniform thinking unless an external idea is applied to it. That’s inertia of thought, a potentially dangerous condition.
But, apply curiosity as the force that interferes with existing ideas, a catylist creating a collision with other ideas. The intersection creates a potential breakthrough. This is the realm of innovation!
The angle of intersection is critical. Two bodies of thought, in near parallel motion, will intersect, but rarely alter each other’s direction. They act on each other, but not in a significant way. Intersections, however, crossing at 90 degrees or more, create significant impact. Opposing ideas can create severe conflict. But, those same combinations can inspire the greatest change.
James Burke has made a career of tracking intersections of both modest and severe angles. In his first major video series, Connections, he tracked innovations from point to point through civilization. Each connection changed the course of history. The intersection of need and technology connects two or more ideas and innovation of product, process or perception is the result.
Burke continued his connections theme through several additional titles: The Day the Universe Changed, The Pinball Effect, and even more adventurous multimedia combination, The Knowledge Web.
Bees transmit information, like the location of pollen, by dancing. They dance with whomever they meet and transfer the knowledge. So, intersections can be seen as transfer points for information.
In commercial real estate, the most expensive property is at the intersections of two or more paths. Why? Because that’s where the most traffic is. And, human traffic, like bee traffic, creates transfer opportunities for information. Word of mouth. Word of Web. Words of wisdom. Where information collides, anything can happen.
Ideas act just like objects. Every idea in a state of uniform thinking tends to remain in that state of uniform thinking unless an external idea is applied to it. That’s inertia of thought, a potentially dangerous condition.
But, apply curiosity as the force that interferes with existing ideas, a catylist creating a collision with other ideas. The intersection creates a potential breakthrough. This is the realm of innovation!
The angle of intersection is critical. Two bodies of thought, in near parallel motion, will intersect, but rarely alter each other’s direction. They act on each other, but not in a significant way. Intersections, however, crossing at 90 degrees or more, create significant impact. Opposing ideas can create severe conflict. But, those same combinations can inspire the greatest change.
James Burke has made a career of tracking intersections of both modest and severe angles. In his first major video series, Connections, he tracked innovations from point to point through civilization. Each connection changed the course of history. The intersection of need and technology connects two or more ideas and innovation of product, process or perception is the result.
Burke continued his connections theme through several additional titles: The Day the Universe Changed, The Pinball Effect, and even more adventurous multimedia combination, The Knowledge Web.
Bees transmit information, like the location of pollen, by dancing. They dance with whomever they meet and transfer the knowledge. So, intersections can be seen as transfer points for information.
In commercial real estate, the most expensive property is at the intersections of two or more paths. Why? Because that’s where the most traffic is. And, human traffic, like bee traffic, creates transfer opportunities for information. Word of mouth. Word of Web. Words of wisdom. Where information collides, anything can happen.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006 | 3 Comments 
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Reader Comments (3)
Chas, Great article.
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
It is not really clear whether humanity developed intelligence because it was curious or its curiosity developed its intelligence. It could very well be a combination of both, with our natural genetic capacity for inquiry stimulating more complex and interconnected neural nets and bigger brains.
wow! It has been a long time since I have heard somebody talk about something with such passion. I didn’t quite understand everything but the passion flows throughout the and it is amazing to see someone be so in depth about something.