Game of Thrones, Star Trek and Innovation
I recently wrote a couple of articles for Innovation Excellence that explored innovation insights we can glean from science fiction writers. In this article, I want to further expand on that topic, and ask how other authors, including William Gibson, Jules Verne and James Burke may be able to help us stretch our thinking. And given that we are in the throws of “Game of Thrones” fever, I couldn’t resist asking if there is also something we can learn from that somewhat unlikely source?
Science and Art: Innovators SF writers share a common challenge – to envision and create the future. The two I wrote about, Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov were both accomplished scientists and inventors in their own right.
This places them in a unique space at the interface of science and creative arts. Interfaces between disciplines are always ripe for innovation, as they force us to step outside of our comfort zone, and explore and embrace new knowledge. This can occur at interfaces between similar disciplines, such as biochemistry and genetics, or at more disconnected interfaces like those that blend art and science. More disconnected disciplines require more learning, as well as bigger mental stretches, and so are more challenging. But that mental yoga also has the potential to trigger more diverse thinking, and so potentially trigger more disruptive ideas.
The richness of the art-science interface in particular has a long history of delivering truly disruptive ideas, going all of the way back to Leonardo da Vinci, punch cards used in early computers which were derived from tapestry looms, medical suturing techniques derived from embroidery, or even the very recent example of using computer games to help in the restoration of Notre Dame.
Submarines, The Internet and K-Pop: While a science background helps to ground future visions in technically likely realities, science fiction has a track record of creating ‘sparks’ of innovation that go well beyond the work of ‘hard scientists’ like Asimov and Clarke. Jules Verne’s books were littered with ideas such as submarines that later became reality. William Gibson, and several others envisaged the internet long before it came to pass, while Gibson’s insights into marketing, branding, and even K-Pop have proven to be almost disturbingly prescient.
The Final Frontier: Perhaps the biggest source of inspiration of all is Star Trek. So many of today’s technologies, from voice activated computers, to flip phones (OK they’ve come and gone, but you get the idea), medical scanners, and tablets were anticipated in Star Trek. We may still be a long way from warp drives and teleportation (although worm holes and particle entanglement are at least on the quantum mechanical radar), but much of what seemed wildly futuristic when Star Trek first aired has now come to pass, and in some cases, come and gone. It is all too easy in hindsight to dismiss the vision in those early TV shows, but at the time, the idea of a talking computer, or an African American female bridge officer for that matter, were pretty radical. Why was Star Trek so good at predicting the future? Perhaps it was a function of the extraordinary insight of Rodenberry, it’s creator. Or perhaps so many innovators watched Star Trek in their youth that it primed them to create many of the innovations we take for granted today. We’ll probably never know, but most likely it’s a mixture of both.
Game of Thrones: This brings me to Game of Thrones, a complex, fantasy based science fiction story that couldn’t be more distant from the ‘hard’ science fiction of Clarke, or even Star Trek. But it is extraordinarily popular, so will it influence the thinking of future innovators? Clearly it’s unlikely to have the direct influence of something as directly anticipatory as Star Trek. But as innovators, I passionately believe we need to stretch our thinking, so what could we potentially learn So referencing Game of Thrones at this time may have an element of ‘click bait’ associated with it, but it also illustrates some really important insights, both around how we can learn from artists, and science fiction authors in general, as well as how important it is to reach outside of our existing knowledge domains if we truly want to create breakthrough and disruptive innovation. If we only network with innovators, we’ll likely never be truly innovative!
<img class="aligncenter wp-image-8697" title="Build a common language of innovation on your team" src="https://innovationexcellence.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Common-Innovation-Language-550-Originally published on Linkedin.com
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A twenty-five year Procter Gamble veteran, Pete Foley has spent the last 8+ years applying insights from psychology and behavioral science to innovation, product design, and brand communication. He spent 17 years as a serial innovator, creating novel products, perfume delivery systems, cleaning technologies, devices and many other consumer-centric innovations, resulting in well over 100 granted or published patents. Follow him @foley_pete