Steven Johnson opens by tracing how seemingly minor historical innovations produced unexpected, far-reaching consequences across seemingly unrelated domains, illustrating the often unpredictable, interconnected nature of technological and social change.

Why tracing these unexpected consequences matters:

• Historical innovations often produced consequences their original creators never anticipated, illustrating how technological change ripples unpredictably across interconnected systems
• Johnson's detailed historical tracing makes these unexpected connections concrete and vivid, rather than remaining abstract theoretical claims about interconnection
• This opening establishes the book's central methodological approach: detailed historical tracing of unexpected, far-reaching innovation consequences

This opening establishes the book's foundational methodological approach, tracing unexpected historical consequences of seemingly minor innovations across interconnected domains.