Steven Johnson (Author)

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Steven Johnson, South by Southwest 2008

Steven Berlin Johnson (* 6 June 1968 ) is an American non-fiction - author . He has worked as a columnist for Discover Magazine , Slate , Wired, and other magazines. He is a recognized Writer In Residence at New York University .

Publications

He published several books that trace the social and sociological developments and meanings of technological development.

  • Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms The Way We Create And Communicate (1997)
    • Interface culture. How new technologies change creativity and communication
  • Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software (2001)
  • Mind Wide Open: Your Brain And The Neuroscience Of Everyday Life (2004)
  • Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter (2005)
  • The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World (2006)
  • The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America (2008)
  • Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation (2010) ISBN 978-1-59448-771-2 .

Interface Culture (1997)

In his portrayal of the technical developments in the computer sector, Johnson succeeds in grasping the changes in culture , cultural perception and the perception of reality and making them tangible. He combines historical anecdotes and narratives with well-founded and profound conclusions.

His descriptions and anecdotes, for example about the development of the computer mouse, are linked to his observations on the changed handling of objects and the resulting cognitive "rewiring" and thus offer the reader an understanding of processes and developments in the cultural handling of objects that are hardly aware of them is. The principle of interlinking history and interpretation runs consistently and lightly through all of the chapters that are devoted to the Internet , user interfaces and other computer areas, for example .

After reading this, the computer world and cultural development are no longer opposed to one another as independent terms, but have permeated each other.

Emergence (2001)

" Emergence is what occurs when the whole is greater than the sum of the parts," said Johnson, summarizing the core idea of ​​the book in an interview. With his book, Johnson does not reinvent the phenomenon, but rather deals with the diverse manifestations, their implications and consequences. As examples of the emergence of complexity through the interaction of numerous individual parts, Johnson refers to ants , the human brain , the emergence of cities and software . In all cases, the individual parts have - compared to the overall system - a simple system of rules for decision-making and interaction, which is given a new quality through the quantity of the individual parts . Adaptive learning, self-organization , swarm intelligence are some of the key words that are often used in this context.

The intelligence or complexity arises exclusively from the number of individual parts which, due to the sheer number, trigger the "act locally, act globally" - this applies to human cells that develop based on the rules of DNA just as they do to ants that use the pheromone - Follow signals from their fellows. The system of rules according to which modern online platforms such as Amazon or Slashdot.com or computer games such as SimCity function is relatively primitive; It is only through the number of users that apparently intelligent behavior or recommendations emerge. Emergence is not a development that is hierarchically planned from top to bottom, but that takes place on the lower level and reaches a higher level through quantity.

Four conditions for the emergence of emergence treated Johnson detail. The ability to recognize patterns , for example which conspecifics an ant encounters or which items someone buys on Amazon, is essential and can be understood as “learning from your neighbor”. For this to work, the individual parts must be able to give and process feedback . The term “neighbors” refers to the third condition that all individual parts must be on the same level (“street level”), i.e. there must be no hierarchy between them. Emergence then arises from the constant interaction of numerous individual parts; influencing the result would only be possible by changing the rules according to which the individual parts act.

Mind Wide Open (2004)

How does the brain work, how do behaviors shape, what happens below your own consciousness? Johnson explores these and accompanying questions on his journey into the neural realms. The book is structured as a personal story, which connects numerous possibilities of investigation and modern knowledge over various stations. General points such as adrenaline level or references to processes on the biochemical level are put into context and presented in the variety of their modes of action.

At the usual high level of popular science, which is always vividly and factually correct in detail, Mind Wide Open leads through formative events, telling jokes and comprehension and recognition tests to insights into the brain, which, according to Johnson, combines numerous components like a good orchestra . Thinking and feeling arise only when the individual elements interact. While research is mostly focused on one area, Johnson creates the relationships between the areas and provides a post-Freudian insight into the human psyche.

New Intelligence (2005)

Johnson's Everything Bad Is Good For You appeared in German as New Intelligence and assumes that modern technologies have positive effects that are often ignored in the usual debate. The American cultural scientist explains that television and computer games are nowhere near as stupid and unsocial as they are often claimed.

Johnson examines older and younger TV programs and finds that Emergency Room - Die Notaufnahme , Seinfeld or The Sopranos demand the highest intellectual performance from the audience - many threads of action have to be followed in parallel, related to one another and widely ramified reference systems to be developed. Reality TV trains social skills , as it aggressively encourages people to deal with the situations emotionally and in a solution-oriented manner. "Even the crap has gotten better" - with this conclusion he rehabilitates the scolded television program as a comparative observer.

When it comes to computer games, he looks at the successful genres - and therefore leaves out the notorious killer games . Johnson succeeds in conveying the fascination of the game worlds to non-gamers and analyzing the solution strategies. Just like books, computer games are able to draw users into their world and to captivate them emotionally and intellectually - and to encourage them. This is not a book against reading , but an invitation to examine what appears to be “lower cultural assets” before condemning them.

The Ghost Map (2006)

Johnson reconstructs the 1854 cholera epidemic in London in detail. The book is divided into chapters, each of which describes a day and includes descriptions of individual fates, various aspects of society, science and developments (Johnson himself calls this "deep structure"). Living together in the new (rapidly growing) city of London, to which the first chapter is dedicated, brought new challenges, with Johnson focusing on the later important areas of water supply and disposal as well as waste disposal as essential factors. Only the solution of these problems prevented the development of similar epidemics later, as demonstrated by numerous examples.

The historically most important element for Johnson is that, for the first time in an epidemic, measures based on rational analysis were taken: The lever on the pump that was used to distribute cholera-contaminated water was removed. Following the ideology, the authorities saw cholera spread through the air and not through the water, as John Snow was able to demonstrate. Johnson gives a lot of space to Snow's investigations, conclusions and persuasions and also presents numerous people and their work in detail, which made Snow's findings possible in the first place.

With the reference to pandemics, Johnson draws the link to modern times in the last chapter. While an event like 9/11 required a high casualty rate, but is limited in time, pandemics would have far more devastating consequences due to their spread. In particular, the coexistence of many people in a small space (keyword big city) would cause high numbers of victims in both cases, but in the case of the pandemic it would be catastrophic, as the number of infections would increase exponentially.

The Invention of Air (2008)

The now little known polymath Joseph Priestley is at the center. Johnson chronologically follows Priestley's life, which is embedded in the display of English culture. The "near discovery" of oxygen, the foundation of modern chemistry, and the enthusiastic interest in electricity make Priestley one of the most important scientists of his time. The radical thinker, staunch optimist, chaotic experimenter and esteemed analyst published numerous works on scientific, social and political topics.

Due to some unfortunate and thoughtless formulations, Priestley saw his life in serious danger and fled with his family from England to the very young USA. He had already had a deep friendship with Benjamin Franklin in England. In the USA he maintained close contact with the other two founding fathers: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson . In the correspondence between these two, Priestley is the most important protagonist, both deal in detail with his positions and views.

Johnson argues that neither this correspondence between the two US presidents nor the relationship between the three founding fathers can be understood if one does not know Priestley's life, work and thought. In his portrayal of a man's life, Johnson embeds the story of the emergence of new ideas, paradigms, thought patterns and spiritual achievements. These - so Johnson's argument - need a certain social, political, scientific backdrop in order to work as they did. Therefore, they can only be seen retrospectively if you “zoom out” and not narrow your view to just one topic.

In the spirit of New Historicism , Johnson's sixth book is a historical narrative that tells of the emergence and work of scientific ideas.

Where good Ideas come from - The natural History of Innovation (2010)

Based on Charles Darwin's observation of the coral reef as an ecosystem, Johnson draws connections to the intellectual productivity of today's big cities and the rapid success of projects like YouTube. The main question is which environments promote and advance new ideas and developments. Johnson examines seven core principles using examples across natural, scientific and human history:

  1. The adjacent possibilities: the framework in which successful innovation can take place; with every new idea, the range of adjacent possibilities is expanded
  2. Liquid networks: In "gaseous" environments an idea cannot hold, in solid environments there is too little movement / flexibility to form new connections / ideas; liquid environments offer enough flexibility and can receive successful new connections
  3. The vague premonition ("The Slow Hunch"): New ideas rarely appear as a Eureka moment, but rather as a vague premonition that is dragged along in the back of the head over the years. Occasionally it comes into contact with other thoughts, ideas, assumptions and matures - or is forgotten.
  4. The lucky coincidence ("Serendipity"): vague hunches need a trigger or a link in order to become innovative ideas
  5. Mistakes: mistakes broaden your horizons and creativity; Being on the wrong path does not in itself open any new doors to the adjacent possibilities, but it does compel us to look for them
  6. Misappropriation (“exaptation”): Thoughts, considerations, observations lead to new results in new contexts or objects acquire a completely new value through a use other than the intended or original use
  7. Platforms: Basics for new things, because the user does not have to worry about the basics, but can simply use them and their by-products, natural platforms (e.g. coral reef, rainforest) recycle lots of nutrients and form countless symbiotic relationships in a tight network ; Platforms (such as the Internet, Twitter) enable new ideas, accelerate their dissemination and gain strength through new ideas

In conclusion, Johnson notes that the vast majority of the top 200 inventions were made in non-commercial / networked contexts. From this he derives a skepticism towards the patent system and criticizes the dogma that the free (capitalist) market is the most suitable environment for innovations.

style

Johnson's writing style can literally be described as popular science . He combines descriptive writing with factually correct representations without neglecting one in favor of the other. His books are therefore to be seen as compilations and overview works as an introduction to a field of knowledge. Johnson's achievement lies less in creating new facts than in uncovering connections, in weighting facts and in translating specialist problems and expressions into easily accessible texts that have a narrative structure.

As the subtitles of his 2006 and 2008 books suggest, Johnson does not provide a scientific discussion, but a story, a narrative. These stories focus on a few people and are in the 18th and 19th centuries. Century settled. They thrive on the detailed connections between science, culture, politics and other factors. The focus is not so much on the dramatic dimension, but rather allows certain cultural developments, scientific discoveries or political decisions from the network of numerous factors to be recognized and understood.

Web projects

In 1995, Steven Johnson was a co-founder of the early Webzine Feed Magazine .

Johnson started a web service called Outside.In; his aim was to map and use the dense regional and local links virtually. The idea was to create less of a large media village than actual neighborhoods. He used the term hyperlocal for this .

Web links

Commons : Steven Johnson (author)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Jürgen Kaube : The best new ideas come from old buildings . Just because the market wants it? In his fabulous history of innovation, Steven Johnson shows that most inventions are made collectively - and without major financial incentives. May 28, 2013 (FAZ Book of the Week).
  2. Steven Johnson: Deep Structure ( English ) stevenberlinjohnson.com. September 14, 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  3. Outside.In ( Memento of November 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive )