Here's
an
excerpt
from
a
recent
Wall
Street
Journal
Online
Article
that
describes
why
the
"collective
brain"
of
a
group
of
Chief
Executive
Boards
International
members
meeting
regularly
to
help
and
advise
each
other
results
in
both
innovation
and
extraordinary
outcomes.
It
underscores
several
ideas
from
Alvin
Toffler's
book
Revolutionary
wealth.
First,
that
knowledge
is
promiscuous.
Secondly,
that
a
piece
of
knowledge
alone
is
trivia
--
its
value
exponentializes
when
combined
with
other
knowledge.
And,
finally,
it
confirms
that
"innovation
is
a
contact
sport".
"Trade is to culture as sex is to biology. Exchange makes cultural change collective and cumulative. It becomes possible to draw upon inventions made throughout society, not just in your neighborhood. The rate of cultural and economic progress depends on the rate at which ideas are having sex.
"Dense populations don't produce innovation in other species. They only do so in human beings, because only human beings indulge in regular exchange of different items among unrelated, unmated individuals and even among strangers. So here is the answer to the puzzle of human takeoff. It was caused by the invention of a collective brain itself made possible by the invention of exchange.
"Once human beings started swapping things and thoughts, they stumbled upon divisions of labor, in which specialization led to mutually beneficial collective knowledge. Specialization is the means by which exchange encourages innovation: In getting better at making your product or delivering your service, you come up with new tools. The story of the human race has been a gradual spread of specialization and exchange ever since: Prosperity consists of getting more and more narrow in what you make and more and more diverse in what you buy. Self-sufficiency—subsistence—is poverty."Note also the "dense population" idea. Two or three people talking about an idea or problem are one thing. 6, 8 or 10 knowledgeable, thinking people talking about it are a completely different thing. And the results are amazing. If you haven't spent a day recently in the company of a number of thinking people knowledgeable of your field, figure out a way to do so. You'll be glad you did.
