Ancient and Recent Proof You Can Kill Ideas

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People say you’ll be able to’t kill an thought.

However concepts die on a regular basis, each from pure causes and homicide.

An instance of ideaicide:

Do you bear in mind again in 2014 or so, what the hot-button political situation was? Positive, teams of every kind have been speaking about all the same old stuff. Healthcare, defence, social safety, racism, corruption…

However you could not go a day with out somebody speaking about revenue inequality.

Everybody in contrast graphs of this to charts of that. The Occupy motion had stirred up consideration and all of it settled on this.

Then Trump determined to run for president. Clearly, that is a difficult situation for any billionaire – however particularly that billionaire – to navigate. So, as a substitute, he talked about constructing ‘an enormous, stunning wall’.

Increase. Immediately the subject du jour was immigration.

Chalk it as much as luck or talent, mass manipulation or an thought whose time had come. Both approach, the previous thought was useless – or not less than bleeding out.

Desire a extra thorough instance?

Nicely, I can not give one. How might I? If an thought is useless, then I do not learn about it.

However I can level to a delightfully intriguing anti-example, which simply so occurs to be one of many newest factors of political fixation:

China.

Should you have a look at Chinese language historical past, it seems to be like an countless stream of innovation. The related Wikipedia article accommodates lots of of innovations – on the high, it mentions the “4 Nice Innovations”: paper, compasses, gunpowder and the printing press.

These alone are wonderful feats of science – and China invented them in historic historical past. What different nation can boast a historical past like that?

Higher query: how did they handle that?

Genetic superiority? Unlikely.

A tradition that favours innovation? Hardly. Chinese language society, then and now, hardly embraces radical and deviant considering.

I’ve a idea.

And my idea explains why China invented this stuff however did not, you recognize, use them.

To not carry up a sore level for them, however the Century of Humiliation concerned an alliance of Western powers carving up China. They did this, partially, because of their superior know-how. But it surely was ‘superior’ as a result of European navies had compasses for navigating and loads of cannons – utilizing, watch for it, gunpowder.

Industrial-age Europe used the identical tech invented in historic China… so how might it probably be superior?

My idea is straightforward:

China has, for many of its historical past, been politically steady. Positive, positive, dynasties ended bloody, they bought invaded a number of instances, then there was that mess with the Cultural Revolution.

However have a look at any nook of the world over 1000’s of years. Most different cultures broke down and constructed up once more dozens of instances.

Right this moment, the buzzword is ‘disruption!’ Again then, it was ‘stability!’ Industries stayed the identical for hundreds of years, in distinction to immediately’s tech churn, so stability have you ever an edge.

As a result of, again then, perhaps new innovations got here alongside each few many years, by way of dumb luck or inspiration.

However with out a steady system of commerce, that concept would not depart the village.

And with out robust rule of legislation, that village would quickly change into fodder for bandits ultimately.

So a politically sound society might accumulate and share its innovations, whereas different societies would lose them to entropy.

But when it is too steady, then it’s going to wrestle to make use of these innovations.

In Europe, the printing press was a gamechanger. In historic China, it most likely simply strengthened the prevailing recreation.

Perhaps I am proper, perhaps not. At finest, it is a partial clarification… although it suits the information properly.

(Even when it has horrific implications – most of our good concepts have been misplaced to time.)

However let’s assume it is true.

You will be darn positive I am gonna use this as a metaphor.

It is a name so that you can embrace chaos and routine, as a result of an excessive amount of of both stifles you.

And a reminder that nothing is everlasting.

However the large one?

You could have so many nice concepts – so many options to the challenges you face. However they will not do you a lick of fine by themselves.

Gunpowder as a novelty immediately is much less helpful than gunpowder as a weapon a thousand years from now.

Learn to act in your concepts and instincts. Anything is like letting international imperialists carve their initials in your again.

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Source by William T Batten