“Our thought shapes the spaces we inhabit, and our spaces return the favor.” -Steven Johnson, Where Good Ideas Come From, 17

So we can use our minds to alter our environment, and our environment also shapes how we think.  The inhabitants of a frigid tundra will not dream up polka-dotted umbrellas.  This is true.  The question then arises of where we place the emphasis – on the power of individuals to shape their world, or all the circumstances that individuals require to come up with particular innovations – on individual agency or external forces.