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Steven Johnson

Steven Johnson

@steven-johnson · 16 positions · 0 changes of mind

Non-fiction writer, podcaster and occasional TV host. Author of thirteen books including The Ghost Map, Where Good Ideas Come From and Extra Life, host of the PBS series How We Got To Now, and author of the Adjacent Possible newsletter on innovation.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

Steven Johnson did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

  1. Our reading

    A true pirate is defined by rejecting the authority of nations and empires altogether, not merely by breaking their laws.

    Their wordsTo be a true pirate implies a broader disavowal. The pirate renounces the long-distance authorities of nations and empires.

    ↗The Uses Of Terroradjacentpossible.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece

  3. Our reading

    Some historical raiders destroyed conquered cities for destruction's own sake, not to seize land, treasure, or slaves.

    Their wordsThe Sea Peoples did not invade lands to claim them as their own, or extract treasure or slaves to bring back to their homeland. They seemingly torched the great capitals of the Bronze Age just to watch them burn.

    ↗The Uses Of Terroradjacentpossible.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece

  4. 3 weeks earlier

  5. Our reading

    The external tools people use to reason, remember and calculate — including chatting with an LLM — are genuine extensions of the human mind, not just aids to it.

    LLMs

    Their wordsthe external tools that we use to help us reason, remember, associate, calculate-from counting on our fingers to chatting with an advanced LLM-should be properly understood as extensions of our own cognitive process.

    ↗Notebooks And The Extended Mindadjacentpossible.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece

  7. Our reading

    Current AI systems are very unlikely to be close to achieving genuine sentience.

    AI sentience

    Their wordsthe most pressing question is not whether the machines are on the verge of sentience, since the likelihood of that seems low.

    ↗Notebooks And The Extended Mindadjacentpossible.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece

  8. 6 weeks earlier

  9. Our reading

    Current fears about AI causing harmful cognitive offloading are largely based on outdated impressions of early chatbots rather than today's AI tools.

    chat interfaces

    Their wordsTo a certain extent, the concerns about cognitive offloading are an example of technological lag, where the mainstream discussion of AI and its impact is still framed in terms of the first-generation chatbots.

    ↗Cognitive Uploadingadjacentpossible.substack.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  11. Our reading

    A well-designed AI-integrated approach to schoolwork can produce better learning outcomes than pre-AI research and writing methods.

    education

    Their wordsI truly believe that following this kind of approach to AI in the classroom would, in the aggregate, produce better learning outcomes than the research and writing workflows available to students pre-AI.

    ↗Cognitive Uploadingadjacentpossible.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  13. Our reading

    Apparent inevitabilities in new software paradigms are often just design failures that can be fixed with better guardrails.

    design

    Their wordsSo often with new software paradigms, what looks like inevitability turns out to be just design failure that can be solved with the right guardrails or affordances or system instructions.

    ↗Cognitive Uploadingadjacentpossible.substack.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

  14. 2 months earlier

  15. Our reading

    Root crops resist state taxation better than grain because they can be harvested piecemeal and stored underground.

    Their wordsEven other domesticated foods like root crops and tubers proved remarkably resistant to the tax collector, because they grow underground and can safely be left in the soil for months, even years.

    ↗The Legible Societyadjacentpossible.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece

  17. Our reading

    Writing originated from flattening physical accounting tokens into two-dimensional signs pressed into clay.

    Their wordsBy transforming a physical, three-dimensional counter into a two-dimensional sign, these early accountants made a momentous step towards history's inaugural information technology: writing.

    ↗The Legible Societyadjacentpossible.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece

  18. 5 weeks earlier

  19. Our reading

    Archaeological interpretations of human history are biased toward artifacts made of durable materials that survived, not what mattered most to the people who made them.

    Their wordsarcheologists naturally build their interpretations of human history out of artifacts that survive the passage of deep time.

    ↗Back To The Gardenadjacentpossible.substack.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  21. Our reading

    The Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age framework names historical eras after the inorganic materials that happened to survive, not what those societies actually valued.

    Their wordsThat now ubiquitous timeline names eras after the inorganic materials that happened to survive in the dirt.

    ↗Back To The Gardenadjacentpossible.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  23. Our reading

    A society structured to resist being catalogued and taxed by a central authority is for the same reason resistant to being reconstructed by archaeologists.

    Their wordsAnd what makes a society illegible to the tax collector also makes it illegible to the traditional archaeologist.

    ↗Back To The Gardenadjacentpossible.substack.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

  24. 4 weeks earlier

  25. Our reading

    Standard word processors are poorly suited for complex, long-form writing.

    Their wordsstandard word processors are actually comically unsuited for complex, long-form thinking

    ↗The Architecture Of Ideasadjacentpossible.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece

  27. Our reading

    The purpose of a creative work environment is to produce ideas that would not otherwise have occurred to you.

    Their wordsAt the most elemental level, that is the goal of a creative work environment: it should help you have ideas that would have never occurred to you.

    ↗The Architecture Of Ideasadjacentpossible.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece

  28. 3 weeks earlier

  29. Our reading

    The standard narrative of agriculture as a sudden civilizational fall oversimplifies a far more gradual, complicated history.

    Their wordsBut the "Fall" into agriculture turns out to be a much more nuanced-and jagged-story than the standard account would have it.

    ↗The Agrarian Falladjacentpossible.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece

  31. Our reading

    There was a long, unexplained gap between the first domestication of crops and the emergence of the first agrarian states.

    Their wordsOver the past three decades, scholars have identified a massive, unexplained gap in the timeline between the first domestication of crops and the emergence of the first agrarian states, complicating the narrative popularized by authors like Harari and Diamond.

    ↗The Agrarian Falladjacentpossible.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece