Wednesday’s Big Idea

Today's Big Idea: Nowism

What are the trends that will make a big splash in 2013 and beyond? Naturally a lot of people are obsessed with this question. The key to innovation, one argument goes, is the ability to see trends before they develop and think ahead of the change curve.

Joi Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab, pours some cold water on that, with his focus on "Nowism," which is the focuses on process, not prediction. In Ito's view, the greatest innovation successes are derived from serendipity, but also through a process that enables serendipity.

Let's say you designed a dating platform. Let's say there are no takers. No problem. You have the ability to see this, change course, and then develop your product into a video sharing platform that you sell to Google for $1.6 billion. That's Nowism in practice.

Joi Ito: I'm Not a Futurist, I'm a Nowist

by Daniel Honan

Joi Ito says the key to innovation is not the ability to see things through a crystal ball, but rather, to figure it out as you go along.

The Singularity Is Near

by Ray Kurzweil

With Time magazine's recent cover story on futurist Ray Kurzweil, his theories about the singularity have entered the mainstream. Now hear them straight from the source.

Peter Diamandis: The Future of Business Is Rosy

by Big Think Editors

Peter Diamandis is one of the world's most ambitious entrepreneurs. Creator of the X-Prize Foundation and other companies, he is optimistic about the current direction of business.

The Practicality of Big Ideas

by Mitchell Joachim

When facing large-scale issues like the energy crisis and climate change, Mitchell Joachim argues that our solutions need to be as “big” as our problems.

Inventing the Future

Wednesday’s Big Idea

Today's Big Idea: Nowism