📑 Why Even the Worst Bloggers Are Making Us Smarter – How successful networks nurture good ideas

In an extract from Smarter Than You Think, Clive Thompson explores being connected, as well as the impact and influence this has on our thinking.

Marginalia

Just as we now live in public, so do we think in public. And that is accelerating the creation of new ideas and the advancement of global knowledge.

Having an audience can clarify thinking. It’s easy to win an argument inside your head. But when you face a real audience, you have to be truly convincing.

Children who didn’t explain their thinking performed worst. The ones who recorded their explanations did better

Once thinking is public, connections take over

The things we think about are deeply influenced by the state of the art around us: the conversations taking place among educated folk, the shared information, tools, and technologies at hand

FAILED NETWORKS KILL IDEAS. BUT SUCCESSFUL ONES TRIGGER THEM.