"there are two dozen spiky places in the world that account for 98 percent of innovation."

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-4360.html&fromMod=emailed

by paul • 19 years ago

7 4 19 years ago

rms• 19 years ago

"And for every doubling in city size, there's a 14 to 27 percent increase in productivity per worker--meaning that individual workers are far more productive if they live in cities than they would be out in the sticks."

This is a really broad statement. I would be incredibly impressed if it applied in >95% of cases. How do you measure national productivity anyways? PPP adjusted GDP?

davidw2• 19 years ago

Yeah, looks like BS to me. It probably just means they earn more, which is natural because you don't run big, low paying factories in the middle of expensive cities these days.

davidw2• 19 years ago

I always felt much more mentally engaged in Italy than I did in the bay area. First of all, I actually know more, and better hackers there, second, I interacted with many kinds of people, most of who were fairly bright and resourceful, even if not in the same field. Furthermore, as an environment, it's far more stimulating than the endless burbs that comprise most of the bay area (san francisco excluded). Also, it's much more invigorating to ride one's bicycle or walk, rather than drive everywhere to the same sorts of plasticky, fake, establishments that most other people frequent (or the conspicuously "alternative, look, we're different!" sorts of places where the remainder go). SF is a bit better, but it's so expensive, that it tends to only contain people at the edges - either really rich or really poor. It's not a livable place if you're not wealthy and want to have kids, for instance.

Woah.... I guess that turned into more of a rant than I meant to write. I appreciate the article's sentiment, but a think there are some nuances to it...

lhankins• 19 years ago

Despite the title of the post ("98% of innovation"), I think there are some truths in the article.

I think the best designs and ideas come about through a process which is not unlike evolution. You might start with something good in isolation, but being subjected to many differing viewpoints and perspectives will challenge your idea, and force you to flesh it out in ways you may never have done on your own.

In keeping with the evolution analogy, this type of force causes your original concept to mutate into something which is (often) superior.

"there are two dozen spiky places in the world that account for 98 percent of innovation."

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