Well,what a good idea!

The wellsprings of innovation and the irresistible force of technology

Where do good ideas come from? That is the question posed by Steven Johnson,a writer known for the agility with which he makes interdisciplinary analogies,in his latest book. His natural history of innovation provides a taxonomy of seven ways in which new ideas can sprout from old ones. But this is no management text: for each of his seven patterns of innovation,Mr Johnson provides wide-ranging examples from technology,the natural world and culture.

The first of the patterns is the adjacent possible: the innovations that build logically on previous breakthroughs. In technology,this results in the common phenomenon of several people inventing the same thing at the same time,because it seemed the obvious next step. Similarly,life itself emerged as a cascade of increasing complexity,and the forking paths of evolution allow one innovation to lead to another,such as the semi-lunate carpal bone that made velociraptors more dexterous predators,but subsequently led to the evolution of winged,flying birds. Cultural and social life is also an exploration of the adjacent possible,as one unexpected door opens and then leads to others.

In a similar vein Mr Johnson explores the liquid networks that foster innovation,whether online,in coffeehouses or in ecosystems,and the slow hunch whereby an idea develops slowly and often wrongly,before suddenly becoming the right answer to something. He also examines the benefits of serendipity and error,which can each lead to beneficial insights; the notion of exaptation,in which an innovation in one field unexpectedly upends another Gutenbergs press combined ink,paper,movable type and,crucially,the machinery of the wine-press; and platforms,from operating systems to coral reefs,which provide fertile environments for new developments.

Readers of Mr Johnsons previous books will note the recurrence of several of his favourite themes,such as the similarity between the structure of a city and that of the brain. This book is in many ways a grand synthesis of his previous works. Patterns of innovation,Mr Johnson suggests,are fractal: they reappear in recognisable form as you zoom in and out,from molecule to neuron to pixel to sidewalk. Only in the final paragraph does he provide some suggestions about how to apply these ideas in ones own life.

Kevin Kellys book is even more ambitious. It is a sweeping theory of technology that presents it not as a series of inventions by humans,but as a living force with its own needs and tendencies. It might sound facile to ask what technology wants,but Mr Kelly,who was founding editor of Wired magazine,makes a case for the desire of the technium,as he dubs the ecosystem of technologies,to grow in complexity and colonise new areas,just like life itself. He argues that just as water wants to flow downhill and life tends to fill available ecological niches,technology similarly wants to expand and evolve. We have no choice but to embrace it,he says,because we are already symbiotic with it; technology underpins civilisation.

Mr Kelly is not alone in his belief that technology is an unstoppable force of nature. A similar position was taken by Ted Kaczynski,better known as the Unabomber. In a chapter entitled The Unabomber Was Right Mr Kelly looks in detail at Mr Kaczynskis writings to explain how they start from very similar views about the nature of technology,but arrive at very different conclusions.

The Unabomber was a terrorist who targeted scientists in an effort to derail runaway technological development. Mr Kelly,by contrast,is optimistic that by understanding the nature of technology,mankind is in a better position to benefit from its development and to make sensible choices about which technologies to adopt. By aligning ourselves with the imperative of the technium,we can be more prepared to steer it where we can and more aware of where we are going, he writes. By following what technology wants,we can be more ready to capture its full gifts.

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It is daring of Mr Kelly to invite such a direct comparison of his theories to the ramblings of a madman. Though some parts of his argument are more convincing than others,and he veers towards New Age-speak at times,his book is consistently provocative and intriguing: for instance,when he visits an Amish community to find out how their technology choices are made they turn out to be surprising enthusiasts for genetically modified maize. And although he is an optimist,Mr Kelly has a clear-eyed view of the drawbacks of technology and the difficulty of striking the right balance,at both a personal and societal level,in its adoption.

The Economist Newspaper Limited 2010