How does one change the world? You change it by developing a new idea and implementing it. If you use an existing idea, you do not change the world – you simply extend what has already gone before; the existing idea might have been great.
It might have changed the world when first introduced. But simply repeating an old idea does not produce anything new – it does not change the world.
For example, when you launch the very first functional cellphone, as Steve Jobs did, the world is forever changed. When you launch the 2nd or 14th cellphone, nothing much has changed.
You might think you change the world when you do something kind, or awful, or clever. But if it is not new or original or unique, then it cannot change the world, by definition, because it merely extends the pattern of that which already existed. Simply being kind and generous does not change the world, it does not contribute new ideas or innovative solutions, it just relieves an existing situation.
Important
Why is it important to change the world? Because that is how humanity progresses. That is how we make the future better than the past, and sometimes worse. Clinging to outmoded beliefs and ideologies way past their expiration date is one of our greatest obstacles to progress. Conserve what works, but conceive what can be.
For sheer ingenuity it is difficult to beat the invention of the wheel in Mesopotamia just 3 500 years ago. The wheel was our first anti-gravity device and made the world an immeasurably better place for the people who adopted it. It was such a groundbreaking idea that many less advanced societies never developed it, but simply copied it much later.
Not all new ideas are beneficial. Socialism/Marxism was a new and fundamentally awful idea which changed the world dramatically for the worse. Socialism has resulted in more unnecessary deaths than almost any other idea; its intentions may have been good, but its consequences were devastating.
The free market was a new idea several hundred years ago and has brought untold benefits over time. The free market is also a good litmus test for the quality of new ideas. Good ideas are widely adopted, bad ideas shrivel unless artificially propped up.
Atomic bomb
Sometimes it is not obvious if a new idea has benefited the world. The development of the atomic bomb certainly changed the world; it was the culmination of thousands of new ideas. It ended WWII and saved many thousands of American lives at the cost of many thousands of Japanese lives. It has helped secure world peace for 80 years. But it has the potential to end all life as well. The value of a new idea depends on how it is implemented.
How do new ideas arise? Sometimes they are a solution to a perceived need or shortcoming. The development of the modern shipping container fundamentally changed the shipment of goods for the better. But most successful new ideas arise by chance and astute observation.
Steam-powered vehicles arose from Stevenson watching a kettle boil. The Wright brothers extended the work of many predecessors to produce a powered plane. The common metal nail revolutionised wood construction. The earliest developments in electricity involved rubbing cats with ebony sticks, and this was widely dismissed as witchcraft for at least 50 years. But all these examples changed the world.
Most people resist change. They list the 100 ways a new idea will fail. They claim to know God’s intentions (If God had meant for X, then he would have done Y). If it’s never been done before, then it should never be done, they proclaim. Most of the time they are right. The vast majority of new and untried ideas do fail. As Winston Churchill remarked, “Everybody stumbles across a golden opportunity at least once in a lifetime. Unfortunately, most people just pick themselves up, dust themselves down, and walk away from it.”
If you aspire to make a difference in the world, to be remembered for the great change you wrought, you don’t have to be kinder, or richer, or powerful, or even smart. You just need to be awake when a new opportunity presents itself, and to then seize that opportunity.
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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