Nerd stuff from yours truly, a new way of thinking about the idea system. “The combination of technological progress and human decisions and reactions to it does not change the fundamental nature of humanity, something C.S. Lewis was fond of calling “Chronological Snobbery”, aka the mindset that somehow modern humans are superior in intelligence to our ancestors by virtue of society’s advancements, often thought of as the “appeal to novelty fallacy” [2]. Technological advances themselves tend to provide humanity with various cognitive illusions. In this article, I’m specifically addressing the illusion of ideation and information control.”
Good question. I think they are usually in some sort of overall context that can make them more attractive to certain groups, but I think the real greats, Aristotle’s definition of happiness for example, that doesn’t need much context to be attractive in and of itself.
So maybe, truly great ideas are based on universal truth, but the rest do better surrounded by an in-group context that makes them more attractive.
That idea of velocity is a very useful one. If you can quantify the number of vectors of communication an idea is riding on, I can work it into a targeting or planning process of some sort. I think that concept of mass is equally valuable but it's harder for me to picture it, as you have pointed out. Maybe mass is better descriptor of a reaction to an idea rather than the relative contents of the idea itself. I feel like you allude to this.
Appreciate your thought provoking piece, definitely got me thinking.
Perfect for today.
Thanks. I think Jimmy fully understood the perils of chronological snobbery.
My favorite Buffett song.
Would you consider ideas as context dependent, or things in and of themselves?
Good question. I think they are usually in some sort of overall context that can make them more attractive to certain groups, but I think the real greats, Aristotle’s definition of happiness for example, that doesn’t need much context to be attractive in and of itself.
So maybe, truly great ideas are based on universal truth, but the rest do better surrounded by an in-group context that makes them more attractive.
Really provocative question.
That idea of velocity is a very useful one. If you can quantify the number of vectors of communication an idea is riding on, I can work it into a targeting or planning process of some sort. I think that concept of mass is equally valuable but it's harder for me to picture it, as you have pointed out. Maybe mass is better descriptor of a reaction to an idea rather than the relative contents of the idea itself. I feel like you allude to this.
Appreciate your thought provoking piece, definitely got me thinking.
Yeah, and on top of that mass and “good” or “moral” are not synonymous. But I couldn’t think of a better word than just mass.