What’s the Big Idea?
Ideas are living things.
Ideas grow. Start with a simple idea: “I am hungry.” At first, it is one idea competing in your brain for attention, easy to ignore. It grows more insistent: “Hey, I’m hungry.” It pushes out thoughts of whether there’s a stain on your shirt or if it’s worth picking up that book instead of continuing to watch television. Over time, the idea grows even more insistent: “Hey! I’m hungry!” Like a dog sniffing around your private parts, the idea is now too big to ignore.
Ideas feed off their surroundings. The idea “I am hungry,” for example, may feed off the rumbling in your stomach, or a lack of energy. If you are watching television and come across an ad for nacho dip, it could feed the idea. If you look around your den while watching television and see empty wrappers from candy bars past strewn all about the place, the idea might start to get ideas of its own. Feeding ideas helps them grow.
Ideas breed. Start with the idea: “I am hungry.” This spawns the idea, “I should eat something.” This spawns the idea, “What is there to eat?” This spawns the idea, “Maybe I should check the fridge.” This spawns the idea, “Yes, let me check the fridge.” Four generations of ideas later, you may finally get off the couch.
Ideas need room to breath. The idea “I am hungry,” won’t get much traction if it is competing in your mind for attention with other ideas such as: “Have I seen this episode of Attic Thumpers before?”; “Is it true love this time, or just a little indigestion?”; “What is that smell?”; “If the weather is better tomorrow, I should go for a run…;” “What is that lump on the couch? Have I bust a spring from sitting here so long?”; “No, really, what is that smell?”; “Aww, who am I kidding? If the weather is better tomorrow, I’ll keep binge watching Attic Thumpers – talk about addictive!”; and, “Where am I going to put that bronze statue of a baby’s arm holding an apple?” Starved of the oxygen of attention, the idea “I am hungry,” could die before it is acted upon.
Ideas move. You’re in the den with your children, watching television, and you say, “I should eat something.” Your son son posts a message on Farcebook, “My dad should eat something.” It is liked twenty-three times and reposted seven times, twice by two of his fiends in Hong Kong. Your daughter tweeps, “My dad should eat something. lolz” This gets two hundred fifty-seven retweeps, including a hundred forty-nine from Russia (at least seventeen of which are verifiable human beings). As you can see, ideas can travel around the world before dad has a chance to get his eating boots on.
Ideas are living things. But that’s only the beginning.
Ideas compete for approval. You start with the idea: “I want pizza.” This is immediately countered by the idea: “I want a hamburger and fries.” Something inside you might try the compromise idea: “I want a hamburger and fries…on my pizza!” “That’s what ground beef and fried potatoes are for,” the first idea will counter. “Order a pizza!” “Mustard and relish are really gross on a pizza,” the second idea would argue. “Go out for a hamburger!” “Pizza!” “Hamburger!” “Pizza!” “Hamburger!” Falafel!” “Falafel?” “Hey! It’s a compromise, right?” The back and forth of intellectual competition and compromise: that’s how you end up eating something you didn’t really want and don’t even especially like. Although this battle of ideas may appear to be resolved relatively quickly, it will reappear in the morning (with the cereal versus pancakes debate), and pretty much every mealtime thereafter.
As they do in individual minds, ideas compete among groups. The idea, “We’re hungry!” can find itself countered by the idea, “So, eat something.” The idea, “But we cannot afford to buy food!” is one response. This is countered by the idea, “So, okay, don’t eat anything.” “But we’re hungry!” “Oh, would you please make up your minds‽” Unlike the battle of ideas within individuals, the battle of ideas between social groups can take forever to be resolved…if it ever is.
This is a story about how good intentions are overtaken by bad ideas. You may want to finish eating before you start reading…