Sorrel Salb

The great music scenes of our time had this ecology of talent. Motown, Seattle, Los Angeles, the list goes on. Creative competitiveness, imitation, idea expansion and support are key drivers in the advancement of a music scene. In Show your Work, Austin Kleon writes

“Scenius doesn’t take away from the achievements of those great individuals; i

“Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, intentionally used competition among his artists to bring out the best in them,” wrote Packy inhis essay, Conjuring Scenius. “He [Gordy] held weekly meetings in which the team voted to release certain artists’ songs while holding others’ back until they got it up to their friendly competitor’s level.”

In Eno’s words: “If genius is the creative intelligence of an individual, Scenius is the creative intelligence of a group.”

Looking backwards, it’s striking how unevenly distributed progress has been in the past...the discoveries that came to elevate standards of living for everyone arose in comparatively tiny geographic pockets of innovative effort.

Although many have tried many times, it is not really possible to command scenius into being... The best you can do is NOT KILL IT. When it pops up, don’t crush it. When it starts rolling, don’t formalize it. When it sparks, fan it. But don’t move the scenius to better quarters. Try to keep accountants and architects and police and do-gooders away

The InterIntellect is a “virtual city of minds.” A community of, and talent agency for, online intellectuals, the InterIntellect gathers some of the best minds from across the globe to discuss and collaborate with each other, and to educate the public.

Scenia do not start fully-formed. Instead, they evolve through three stages: communities, micro-scenia, and scenia. 

Community: a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common; a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.

Examples: early personal

Here is Eno’s definition : “ Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius. ”

Network effects of success : Silicon Valley is famous for its “mafias.” As companies sell or IPO for billions of dollars, they make many of their employees very wealthy. Those employees form new companies, support each other, and invest in the next generation of companies. ThePayPal Mafia, Silicon Valley’s most famous, includes entrepreneurs who w