My former employers (Kable, doing good works since 1990) sponsor a weblog called Ideal Government where they are promoting mash-ups. Mash ups are combinations of data from different sources, such as found at Up My Street or various new sites that display results using Google Maps tools.
I think that this has big time potential, and I hope to write about it much more in future. But I just voted for Foreign Policy / Prospect's list of top intellectuals--you can vote here if you want to play. And the people I voted for were cross-overs: People who trained in one discipline and made their greatest contribution in another. My top pick was Jared Diamond, who we can safely say has already changed history--at least as a field of study.
So of course I put the two together... that's the point, isn't it?
Human knowledge is getting to be a bit unwieldy--you need a lot of study to become well-versed in a topic. That study prevents you from seeing applicable ideas and ways of doing things that arise in different disciplines. Could be that we need a method of cross-training at a higher level than introductory exposure. Could be the next wave of innovation depends on it.
All change, please.
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