stevenberlinjohnson.com:

I think Fasier's right that I'm misusing the phrase "jump the shark" in my iPod post below, though I don't totally buy his extended definition of the phrase:

["Jumping the shark"] doesn't mean by itself that something has become a sell-out, or that something has become uncool. It means that something that or someone who has reached this status has tried ridiculously so to reacquire its former, more glorious, status. Hence The Fonz "jumped the shark" when he literally "jumped the shark."

I think there is some reasonable debate over what you have to do to "jump the shark." But Fasier makes an excellent point that shark-jumping is something that a creator has to do deliberately to his product (i.e., creating an whole episode about the Fonz riding a motorcycle over a shark -- and worse, freeze-framing it with a "to be continued" mid-jump.) So unless Steve Jobs somehow orchestrated that iPod conversation between George Bush and Britt Hume, it's not right to say that the iPod has jumped the shark. It was simply a sign of something that was probably obvious already: there's nothing cool any more about having an iPod. That's not to say it isn't an incredible product. It's just hard to defend the cool factor when the President apparently has two of them...

The Basics

I'm a father of three boys, husband of one wife, and author of seven books, and co-founder of three web sites. We spend most of the year in Marin County, California though I'm on the road a lot giving talks. (You can see the full story here.) Personal correspondence should go to sbeej at earthlink dot net. Media requests should go to Matthew.Venzon at us.penguingroup dot com. If you're interested in having me speak at an event, drop a line to Wesley Neff at the Leigh Bureau (WesN at Leighbureau dot com.)

My Books

Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation
An exploration of environments that lead to breakthrough innovation, in science, technology, business, and the arts. I conceived it as the closing book in a trilogy on innovative thinking, after Ghost Map and Invention. But in a way, it completes an investigation that runs through all the books. Sold more copies in hardcover than anything else I've written.
The Invention of Air
The story of the British radical chemist Joseph Priestley, who ended up having a Zelig-like role in the American Revolution. My version of a founding fathers book, and a reminder that most of the Enlightenment was driven by open source ideals.
The Ghost Map
The latest: the story of a terrifying outbreak of cholera in 1854 London 1854 that ended up changing the world. An idea book wrapped around a page-turner. I like to think of it as a sequel to Emergence if Emergence had been a disease thriller. You can see a trailer for the book here.
Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter
The title says it all. This one sparked a slightly insane international conversation about the state of pop culture -- and particularly games. There were more than a few dissenters, but the response was more positive than I had expected. And it got me on The Daily Show, which made it all worthwhile.
Mind Wide Open : Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life
My first best-seller, and the only book I've written in which I appear as a recurring character, subjecting myself to a battery of humiliating brain scans. The last chapter on Freud and the neuroscientific model of the mind is one of my personal favorites.
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software
The story of bottom-up intelligence, from slime mold to Slashdot. Probably the most critically well-received all my books, and the one that has influenced the most eclectic mix of fields: political campaigns, web business models, urban planning, the war on terror.
Interface Culture : How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate
My first. The book I wrote instead of finishing my dissertation. Still in print almost a decade later, and still relevant, I think. But I haven't read it in a while, so who knows what's in there!

Comments

Yes!

Hopefully this helps stop the deluge of misuse (John Battelle's blog yesterday was my latest sighting).

In any case, perhaps what's lacking in pop culture right now is a phrase to describe the turning point at which it becomes strikingly clear that a once-hip entity has becomes unhip. The 'untipping' point, if you will. The IPod example is an undeniable manifestation of this phenomenon. So is Snoop's appearance on a Burger King commercial.

Cheers to you writing about this.

-Faiser

Posted by: Faiser | December 17, 2005 at 03:25 AM

"Jumping the shark" is so last year. This year the phrase on everyones lips is "Jumping the couch".

Posted by: Steve | December 19, 2005 at 06:16 AM

According to the 'Jump The Shark' web site (done by Jon Hein, the guy who has certainly done the most to popularize the phrase):

"It's a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know that, from now on ... it's all downhill. Some call it the climx. Others call it _jumping the shark_."

By this definition, whether or not Steve Jobs orchestrated this incident or not is beside the point.

Jumping the shark can be the result of a calculated move (like COusin Oliver appearing on the Brady Bunch) or something that just happens (liek when Gary Hart met Donna Rice).

Posted by: jon | December 19, 2005 at 04:41 PM

Actually, it sounded like the President had at least three. That one (the "clunker"), the sleek new one Bono left for him, and the Shuffle which he uses for riding.

Peter

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