“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.” – Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

Ron begins each presentation with this quote. At the start of a project, it’s best to allow your mind to be completely open to any possibilities that might arise.

Yesterday I came across this great essay by interactive technology guru Clay Shirky. He argues that the young entrepreneurs responsible for phenomena like YouTube and Facebook, have an intrinsic edge on their older counterparts. This edge isn’t due to youthful energy or vigor, however; Shirky believes that the real advantage they possess is their inexperience. He uses a classic probability analogy to illustrate his point:

Imagine a bag of black and white balls, with a slight majority of white. Drawing out a single ball would provide little information beyond “There is at least one white (or black) ball in this bag.”... By a thousand draws, you could put a rough percentage on that imbalance, and by ten thousand draws, you could say something like “53% white to 47% black” with some confidence.

But what would happen if the contents of the bag changed overnight? What if the bag suddenly started yielding balls of all colors and patterns — black and white but also green and blue, striped and spotted? ...Someone who just showed up five minutes ago would say “Hey, this bag has lots of colors and patterns in it.” While the expert is still trying to explain away or minimize the change as a fluke, or as a slight adjustment to an otherwise stable situation, the novice, who has no prior theory to throw out, understands exactly what’s going on.

Shirky explores this analogy is greater detail, and has excellent insights regarding the profound effect that emerging, interactive technologies have had, and continue to have on our culture.