Opening Plenary

Steven Berlin Johnson was an interesting speaker at the opening session; his current book is Where Good Ideas Come From. He proposed that the idea of eureka moments are often a myth but advancement comes out of hard work and often the meeting of a couple of people who build on one another's ideas. One such example he discovered during his research for his book The Ghost Map: how a cholera epidemic changed the world. It had been thought that cholera was spread through the air but a map of the London neighborhood of Soho showed how the majority of deaths occured near one particular public well. Through the work of Dr. John Snow and his collaboration with a local vicar who knew everyone a pattern of the disease was mapped and the outbreak was traced to patient zero, a child who had drunk from that well.

Another example of collaboration leading to change was the 18th century coffee houses and how they fueled the enlightenment. Prior to the introduction of tea and coffee to Europe most people drank beer or wine through the day since water was often unsafe to drink. Once depressants were replaced by stimulants new ideas began to impact European society.