Steven Johnson: The playful wonderland behind great inventions
Steven Johnson: Como a música levou à invençao dos computadores modernos
Steven Berlin Johnson examines the intersection of science, technology and personal experience. Full bio
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died in the rolling hills
morreu nas colinas
of modern day Slovenia.
a mammoth died in southern Germany.
morreu no sul da Alemanha.
a griffon vulture also died
um abutre também morreu
about how these animals met their deaths,
sobre como esses animais morreram,
dispersed across both time and space
dispersas no tempo e no espaço
a bone from each of their skeletons
de cada um dos esqueletos
40,000 years ago.
das cavernas, há 40 mil anos.
simples para caçar.
garments from animal skins
com a pele de animais
that you would invent the flute,
useless vibrations in air molecules.
inúteis nas moléculas do ar.
what our ancestors did.
que nossos ancestrais fizeram.
to be surprisingly common
or feed their children
ou alimentar seus filhos
but seemingly frivolous inventions
mas aparentemente frívolas,
momentous transformations
transformações muito importantes
important invention of modern times:
mais importante dos tempos modernos:
descend from military technology,
vêm de tecnologia militar,
foram projetados especificamente
were designed specifically
ou calcular trajetórias de foguetes.
or calculate rocket trajectories.
of the modern computer
do computador moderno
to make a sound,
de tubos para produzir sons,
to create the first organ
para criar o primeiro órgão
of triggering sounds
de provocar a emissão de sons
alavancas com os dedos,
from organs to clavichords to harpsichords
para o clavicórdio, o cravo
finally hit on the idea
finalmente teve a ideia
to trigger not sounds but letters.
letras, em vez de sons.
"the writing harpsichord."
de "o cravo de escrever".
to even more powerful breakthroughs.
a avanços ainda mais poderosos.
designed a device
projetaram um dispositivo
that plays itself."
was basically a giant music box.
uma caixa de música gigante.
various songs by using instructions
várias músicas usando instruções
on a rotating cylinder.
colocados em um cilindro giratório.
to play a different song,
com uma codificação diferente.
with a different code on it.
instrumento desse tipo.
this was a massive leap forward.
esse foi um imenso salto adiante.
with this invention.
com essa invenção.
of war or of conquest,
de um instrumento de guerra,
of watching a machine play music.
de ver uma máquina tocar música.
for about 700 years.
pela música por aproximadamente 700 anos.
of the Parisian elite.
da elite parisiense.
os mesmos cilindros codificados
of what were called automata,
dos chamados autômatos,
an automated flute player
francês chamado Jacques de Vaucanson.
was designing his robot musician,
projetava seu robô músico,
to make pleasing sounds,
para produzir sons agradáveis,
delightful patterns of color out of cloth?
lindos padrões de tecidos?
to represent musical notes,
para representar notas musicais,
threads with different colors.
de diferentes cores.
for your fabric,
um novo padrão para seu tecido,
and time-consuming to make,
e demorado produzir cilindros,
of using paper-punched cards
cartões de papel perfurados
much cheaper and more flexible
muito mais barata e flexível
Victorian inventor Charles Babbage
vitoriano Charles Babbage
programável já projetado.
por programadores de computador
by computer programmers
the modern computer possible?
o computador moderno possível?
is an important part of the story,
é uma parte importante da história,
also required other building blocks:
também exigiu outras peças:
ideas and technologies
e tecnologias transformadoras
the mother of invention.
é a mãe da invenção.
is fundamentally exploratory,
é fundamentalmente exploratório
in the world around us.
no mundo ao nosso redor.
is why so many experiences
por simples prazer e diversão
delight and amusement
to profound breakthroughs.
for how we teach kids in school
como ensinamos as crianças na escola
in our workspaces,
em nossos locais de trabalho,
and delight this way
e o prazer dessa forma
sitting there in 1750
estivesse sentado em 1750
the big changes coming to society
transformações na sociedade
as anything else at the time.
quanto qualquer outra coisa da época.
parecia um divertimento,
de alguma forma séria,
the beginning of a tech revolution
o início de uma revolução tecnológica
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Steven Johnson - WriterSteven Berlin Johnson examines the intersection of science, technology and personal experience.
Why you should listen
Steven Johnson is a leading light of today's interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to innovation. His writings have influenced everything from cutting-edge ideas in urban planning to the battle against 21st-century terrorism. Johnson was chosen by Prospect magazine as one of the top ten brains of the digital future, and The Wall Street Journal calls him "one of the most persuasive advocates for the role of collaboration in innovation."
Johnson's work on the history of innovation inspired the Emmy-nominated six-part series on PBS, "How We Got To Now with Steven Johnson," which aired in the fall of 2014. The book version of How We Got To Now was a finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. His new book, Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World, revolves around the creative power of play and delight: ideas and innovations that set into motion many momentous changes in science, technology, politics and society.
Johnson is also the author of the bestselling Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, one of his many books celebrating progress and innovation. Others include The Invention of Air and The Ghost Map. Everything Bad Is Good For You, one of the most discussed books of 2005, argued that the increasing complexity of modern media is training us to think in more complex ways. Emergence and Future Perfect explore the power of bottom-up intelligence in both nature and contemporary society.
An innovator himself, Johnson has co-created three influential sites: the pioneering online magazine FEED, the Webby-Award-winning community site, Plastic.com, and the hyperlocal media site outside.in, which was acquired by AOL in 2011.
Johnson is a regular contributor to WIRED magazine, as well as the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and many other periodicals. He has appeared on many high-profile television programs, including "The Charlie Rose Show," "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."
Steven Johnson | Speaker | TED.com