Blogs and brains

The Drs. Eide who specialize in neurological approaches for children with learning disabilities suggest that blogging is good for the brain because "neurons that fire together, wire together." Given all my recent reading on complexity, I found this observation about the ability to promote creativity especially interesting:

[Pioneering molecular biologist Max] Delbruck's "Principle of Limited Sloppiness" states we should be sloppy enough so that unexpected things can happen, but not so sloppy that we can't find out that it did. Raw, spontaneous, associational thinking has also been advocated by many creativity experts, including the brilliant mathematician Henri Poincare who recommended writing without much thought at times "to awaken some association of ideas."

There is definitely a kind of brainstorming aspect to blogs, but I am not so convinced that it is the result of neurons that fire together conspire together. Blogs are still a very individualized undertaking. Bloggers acknowledge their influences through links and words, but the posts are by and large a record of their personal creativity. In situated learning theory, Lave and Wenger (1991) emphasize that acquisition of knowledge is a social process where people can participate in communities of practice. They position learning as a process well beyond the intrapsychic processes of the individual. My sense is that in emphasizing the post over the relationship, blogs still favour the individual over the group. But they are definitely a step in the right direction.

(Source: Clive Thompson who writes about the wierd and wonderful in pop culture.)

posted by: Shanta at 08:20 | link | comments
design, lifelong, learning, complexity