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Scenius' are also obsessed with unblocking each other's work! There are so many examples of this from my research. (unblocking as in: removing roadblocks to progress, and pushing each other's work forward)
Within the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer would always take interest in others' research, in hopes of removing roadblocks and pushing it forward https://t.co/JnBmruYkPd
Von Neumann had a reputation for the same behavior of helping other teams. In one instance, he helped push forward Neddermeyers' implosion research, which was basically laughed out of the room by his colleagues https://t.co/abCNrPKjp4
Tolkien was also rebuked by his colleagues. We might never have had The Lord of the Rings if it wasn't for the encouragement of C.S. Lewis and The Inklings https://t.co/uRzoEb60I0
Early "hacking" groups (Homebrew, TMRC) were relentless about helping each other, for free, to achieve their goals. Wozniack shared the schematics for all the early apple computers openly! This was the foundation of the open source community. https://t.co/fVCW1Z9A2u
I describe these environments as having "favor abundance" or "social capital abundance". Asking for help on a hard problem doesn't cost you any social capital within the Scenius, it might even add social capital! Favors are given freely and generously. https://t.co/rOW8KKBJlZ
This "baton race" culture -- pushing to take the work as far as it can go, but openly communicating failures/blockers so the group can help you -- is one of the core pieces of social technology that enable great groups to succeed, imo https://t.co/30JQV3bF5J
People are aware of the material technology that powers their lives, but what about the non-material technology? Chiefly, social technology? Social technology plays a far greater role in our lives in society than we generally acknowledge. 1/n https://t.co/n21ex9Z75o
The positive takeaway from all this? Well, you can bootstrap an "unblocking" culture with your friends! Create "favor abundance" by offering and asking for help frequently. Small nudges can be enough. Hell, I wouldn't have made this thread without @visakanv pushing me! https://t.co/7mFcyxaWU2
@__drewface @visakanv it's actually a whole layer more meta than you knew! visa said to me "That’s what a scene is: people unblocking each other at a tremendous rate" and I said "if you don't tweet that I will" https://t.co/8W3XaZSFal
corrected: I wouldn't have made this thread without @Malcolm_Ocean pushing @visakanv to push me. This is almost magic -- I was influenced to act positively by social forces two layers upstream... Now do it for the world's biggest problems! https://t.co/C9UzL2fWKk
Another good example of the tremendous faith in unblocking from Alan Kay: https://t.co/Q0zBLHVUk1 https://t.co/qZsqaZeE4v
in Great Scenes, they 'go completely out of their way' to help junior members be creative next thing you know, the 'junior members' are really fucking good https://t.co/ra4wtCSi5c
little encouragements, giving each other permission to take tentative baby steps in the directions of our dreams, by providing each other a context to be interestingly imperfect and make mistakes safely... next thing ya know everyone's really, really good https://t.co/GIO36T8yID
@__drewface (audio is weird bc I’ve sped it up 1.4x) Miles Davis was great at challenging and supporting young creative talents to perform at the edge of their abilities, and beyond Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, ~1:15:00 https://t.co/25kxwa1M4d
Relatedly, you can compare the way Great Groups unblock an organization (systems engineering) vs. the way Great Contexts unblock passion + creativity (good will / favor economy / society) more research required, though https://t.co/hmHSGI2ESI
I wrote about Great Contexts vs. Great Groups tldr; 1. great social contexts are like nebula for great working groups to form 2. groups v. contexts use diff social technology 3. groups need organization + focus, contexts need ethos, good will, & society https://t.co/ty2n0Hepon
Also related: Great scenes play unique games, and this is how they manage to coordinate so effectively without strong top-down governance. I'm surprised I didn't link this thread earlier. https://t.co/Dpi20kB1LK