COVID-19’s Influence on Innovation in the Music Studio
Steven Johnson is a general science author and media theorist. One of his books — Where Good Ideas Come From — is focused on technology and its relation to personal experience.
He’s a graduate of Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in Semiotics (the study of sign processes). He also obtained a master’s degree from Columbia University in English Literature which most also definitely influenced his decision to pursue a career in writing. He most likely wrote Where Good Ideas Come From so that he can produce a book that generally discusses innovation as well as what environment breeds good ideas, what causes an individual to come up with a good idea, and how the technologies that push forward culture and society come into being.
The ideas that Johnson discussed in his book Where Good Ideas Come From that are most important to me are the ideas of a reef and the 10/10 rule. The reef is the idea of Johnson’s that I find most valuable because a “reef” is essential for human development and because reefs have always existed in human history and will most likely continue to exist for the remainder of human history.
The idea of a reef is also influential to me because I’d like to create some sort of reef, perhaps, a music studio wherein creators can come together and share ideas to create amazing art and advance the art form. I also like the idea of the 10/10 rule because it has been generally persistent throughout recent human history. Keeping in tune with my previous statement, I also believe that this idea can be applied to music and musical advancement in one way or another. This is because one can see that it takes about 5–10 years for a given genre of music to develop. This is then followed by at least a decade of relevance and further development.
Enter a Pandemic
Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many of the world’s physical reefs were interrupted. This was because the virus forced companies to make their employees work from home, making them unable to collaborate in person as they had in the past. The pandemic also stopped many conventions and meetings where ideas would be spread from taking place. While many physical reefs were damaged, the online reefs continued to persist and become evermore influential and important. Because the online reefs were able to persist, many good ideas were still able to come to fruition. For example, vaccine creation technologies were able to advance because a COVID-19 vaccine was produced within a year, the fastest a vaccine has ever been produced. Many other innovations in online communication, shopping, telemedicine were also able to come to fruition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In summary, Steven Johnson’s book Where Good Ideas Come From has presented me with several ideas that have greatly influenced my outlook on innovation in general and in my more specific field. These ideas also are able to be easily applied to the Pandemic, showing that they hold up under many different circumstances. All in all, Where Good Ideas Come From is most definitely worth reading as it presents the reader with several insightful ideas in regards to technological innovation.
