Idea Fracking

Is the opposite of Idea Mining not mining at all? Or is it mining through other methods? In contrast to Idea Mining we propose the related negative concept of Idea Fracking -- idea mining gone wrong.

Fracking is a quick, efficient way to extract material. It works through applying instense pressure. Likewise, many idea-generating processes that value speed over long-term impact.

Brainstorming can be seen as a Fracking Process. Individuals are put in a public high-stakes environment, and told to generate ideas. Ideas are not allowed to grow and develop over time, to find other ideas naturally. But ideas do come.

Policy discussions also often have fracking elements -- ideas and suggestions are desired, but on a timeline, in a given scope, through the right people.

Are some forms of classroom discussion Idea Fracking?

Critiques of Idea Fracking might include Atul Gawade's notion of Slow Ideas. He writes "In our era of electronic communications, we've come to expect that important innovations will spread quickly...But there is an equally long list of vital innovations that have failed to catch on. The puzzle is why."

Steven Johnson's notion of the Slow Hunch is the Slow Idea on a smaller scale. In Good Ideas, Steven suggests that we "...create an open database of hunches, the Web 2.0 version of the traditional suggestion box. A public hunch database make every passing idea visible to everyone else. Others can comment or expand on those ideas, connecting them with their own hunches..."

The Public Hunch may also be an example of Idea Fracking.

The Slow World encompasses everything from the Slow Food movement to the Slow Cities movement. webseitz

In the Slow Food USA manifesto Link they offer a vision which easily connects to how we have devolved in the way that we work in capitalist countries. "We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods. To be worthy of the name, Homo Sapiens should rid himself of speed before it reduces him to a species in danger of extinction. A firm defense of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of Fast Life. May suitable doses of guaranteed sensual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment preserve us from the contagion of The Multitude Who Mistake Frenzy for Efficiency."

Fracking has positive elements in addition to negative ones. And mining isn't exactly green. quora

Actor Network Theory provides a way of understanding innovation.