Why do smart people believe in crazy ideas? (part 2)

Some people don't like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster

Elon Musk

Millenniums ago a young Macedonian King had the idea of conquering the world. Some where not even convinced that he would be able to conquer the all of Greece let alone the entire world.   And in the end what happened? … The crazy King did in fact conquered the world. (We are not debating the destruction or enlightenment that he inflicted ( that is another debate for another time)) The point being that one of the most influential people who ever lived started by believing in a crazy idea. 

“Some people don’t like change” While I believe that’s true, I’m going to take it a step further and say:  most people are afraid of change. “ Don’t be crazy”, “come back to reality” or “that’s impossible” are some of the usual sentences used to mask fear of change.  

We are all aware that some people can behave like animals, meaning, they don’t use they’re free will to become individuals but will rather become part of the collectivist behavior mode.  ( The now famous term “Sheeple” comes to mind) So what happens when you take  away  a person’s free will, critical thinking, ambition and the ability to think outside the box and replace it with a level of material comfort,  fear of standing out in the flock and even make their lack of identity, their identity itself? … Well.. . You get someone who is afraid of change. 

Of course this is nothing new. Let’s go back 2000 years and see what Plato had to say about this ( Plato, the mentor of Aristotle who in turn became a mentor of Alexander the Great) 

So the allegory goes like this: There are this people in a  cave and all their reality is made of shadows they see on the wall.  One of the men manages to get out of the cave and sees the world and how beautiful everything is… he goes back to the cave to tell the rest of the people what he has seen… and what happens? … he gets ostracized by the people, the people who don’t want to change their prisoner status. 

"The perfect dictatorship would have the appearance of democracy, a prison without walls in which the prisoners would not dream of escape. A system of slavery where, through consumption and entertainment, slaves would love their servitude."

Aldous Huxley

So we have seen that some people are afraid of change… but why do smart people  believe in crazy ideas? 

Let’s see if we can come up with  some sort of brief definition of “smart people”.  I guess we could make the case that those people are used to using their intellectual capacity a bit more than usual and since the usual is the flock behavior, a person who does not follow it, will automatically stand out.

“Crazy ideas” : A crazy idea challenges the current relative comfort and opinion of the masses.  Some people will call you crazy and go down with the ship just not to admit that they where wrong… these are the people who label certain ideas as crazy. 

If you put these two quick definitions together the question “Why do smart people believe in crazy ideas?” becomes self explained. 

Like the guy who managed to escape the cave ( so let’s call him smart).  His conscious level went higher then the ones of his peers and for that they called him crazy as a defense mechanism.  

Most people see things that are there and ask why?

Dreamers, see things that aren't there and ask why not?

Lowkey

Every single idea and action that has shaped the world has been labelled as crazy.  Every single scientist, inventor, explorer , artist etc… that has had an impact in mankind has been labeled has crazy. 

And guess what… the sun does not rotate around the earth,  light bulbs are a reality, airplanes are a reality, geothermal energy is a reality, the printing press is a reality, the law of gravity is accepted has a fact,  we still talk about Socrates… this crazy guy from 2000  years ago. 

“Praise of Folly” to quote Erasmus. 

So if you ever start doubting your crazy idea, remember this… a good idea is crazy by definition.  And individuals like good ideas.