How to Be an Innovator (Video)

How to Be an Innovator (Video)

 

This video is trying to prove that this is not always the case and that today it is better to be social than smart.

 

New ideas and technologies are not the product of a few far-sighted genius minds, but arise through societies and social networks acting as ‘collective brains’, says new research from London School of Economics (LSE) and Harvard University.

In this short but highly intriguing video Dr Michael Muthukrishna, assistant professor at LSE and lead author of the research, explains the main ideas in his research paper ‘Innovation in the Collective Brain’. He argues that innovation is not the work of geniuses, but rather the product of our combined social knowledge.

Dr Muthukrishna says that the processes of cumulative cultural evolution allow technologies and techniques to emerge, which no single individual could create on their own – because human brains, in isolation, aren’t actually all that smart.

He further explains that to become an innovator, it is not necessary to be outstandingly smart. Actually it is rather better to be social above all. Dr Muthukrishna says:

There’s no doubt that there are variations in people’s raw skills, but what predicts the difference between a Steve Jobs and a Joe Bloggs is actually their exposure to new ideas that are wonderful and different.

The researchers present a new evolutionary model of cultural evolution and connect it to research on innovation and intelligence. They conducted an original statistical analysis showing that the processes underlying innovation have also shaped innovations within languages.

According to the video if you want to be more creative the best thing you can do is to talk to people who disagree with you. So to cut it short – today it is better to be social than smart because societies are those who invent great ideas, not single people, at least not any more.

Check out also:  Want to Innovate? (Video)

Enjoy watching and don’t forget to comment!

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