Fertilization of ideas

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gtisdale
Posts: 218
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 7:54 am
Location: Concord, Massachusetts
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Fertilization of ideas

Post by gtisdale »

I read an article in the New York Times this morning (Saturday May 22, 2010) that made me think of the BR community and the BRGroup. The topic of the article was why humans have developed so quickly (relatively speaking) compared with other species, including the Neanderthal branch of the family tree and other species that have similar sized brains and some speech interaction.

The author’s position, based on recent research, was that larger communities that fostered not only the interchange of ideas, but were active in trade with other thinkers, fostered innovation, experimentation, and progress. The author kept referring to “intellectual sex” where ideas developed in one location would interact with ideas from another and give rise to offspring that would not only blend the ideas, but spawn new concepts. The author also talked about geographical areas that were once progressive and involved in trade and intellectual expansion, but for some reason, increasing sea levels or other physical barriers, became isolated from others and the ability to exchange ideas with distant and unrelated areas. These areas that became isolated no longer had the intellectual intercourse with other thinking societies and as a result the culture stagnated and eventually shrank and possibly disappeared.

I could not help but relate this to our recent meeting in Boston. We have a vibrant group of people who get together and share ideas. At a subsequent meeting someone has taken ideas put forward by one member, used that idea in a very different context and created a mutation in our development that leaps ahead giving fertile ground for even more new ideas.

I recommend reading the article for its insights into intellectual growth and trading of ideas. I also want to express my personal pleasure with the expansion of ideas and the progress that we as a group are continually making. Let us make sure that we do not become isolated.

FNGeorge
Susan Smith
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Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:24 am
Location: Southern California

Post by Susan Smith »

Wow. This is some really inspirational thought. I love it. Thanks for posting, George. I think that even if we, as a group, never had another "scheduled" conference with an planned agenda, we could still get together, sit in the lobby of a hotel for hours - gathered around each other's laptops, and go home with loads of ideas, revelation and inspiration!

-- Susan
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