Burke Lecture

written by: Cory Q

For those of you unfamiliar with James Burke he hosted a show called Connections (Which has 2 more sequels) about the serendipitous and wandering path that innovation takes through history. He also hosted The Day the Universe Changed as well as writing the books "The Pinball Effect" and "The Knowledge Web". He was also a reporter for the BBC during the Apollo moon launches. Go here for an unoffical portrait. Burke's talent not only lies with being a fantastic orator, but with being able to string together seemingly unrelated pieces of history to show how innovation comes from places you wouldn't think and how they go directions you wouldn't guess. Think "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" but with many more degrees, and with a lot more history... He managed to connect a horrible navigational accident in 1707 off the English coast to toilet paper in rolls. It is a fascinating ride.

I took as many notes as I could on my program, and upon reading them over, wish I had had a tape recorder with me. Burke is very eloquent and clear, but speaks very fast and so many ideas pour out in a vast web of interconnected thoughts, that it is almost impossible for me to convey all of what was said in the very dense and entertaining hour plus talk. I will try to sum up part of the subject by saying the Mr. Burke was trying to show how the internet is a great tool for connecting people and it is through connectivity that humankind achieves and functions best.

I can't possible sum up the evening or wholly and appropriately convey the interesting nature of the subject matter. What I will do instead is present a few points to think about and discuss with your friends from the notes I took in the lecture.

Innovation has to break free of its context to be of any wide worth.

Innovations create ripples. These ripples are the hitherto unpredictable side effects of change. Standard Operating Policies don't handle ripples well.

Institutional thinking can be a very strong blocking tool to change. Institutions want to perpetuate themselves and their values.

"The Pope needs a printing press like a hole in the head because it encourages what we now call 'free thinking'".

The first time Man made a flint tool, it froze us at that moment to what we are and how we think: it sets up a top down decision making process and is the first non-natural, non-cyclical process. We start with one thing and make it into another without replenishing the first thing.

Language cuts reality into pieces and then allows us to reassemble it. Logic puts together two things you know to give you a third you didn't. This is the real power of language.

Open Education Modes. Most forms of testing are exclusionary. What would happen if more education was focused on the idea of bring people together in unity?

What happens to the Nation-State when boundaries fall through connectivity? What about values?

Biologically, diversity encourages survival. This could very well apply to people and cultures as well. Being homogeneous through globalization could lead to problems.

The most important innovation could be listening to and trying hard to understand diversity.

Cory Q loves to talk about this stuff, so feel free to email him with questions.

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