Ideas Transforming Society

We need Ideas to transform society. But what are Ideas? A new technology? A new theory? A new perspective?

TED.com provides many examples of fantastic Ideas. Maybe we can draw some examples from there to illustrate What an Idea is and Why it is so powerful.

In an enlightening demonstration by Hans Rosling (see video), he used a new dynamic visualization to show why third world countries are no longer the same as we are still seeing them -- big families and high mortality. That the world is becoming more homogeneous. Its not easy to digest this fact in words. But if you see the changes as the visualization depicted over time, the Idea struck you like lightning, giving you new insights when planning relationships with third world countries.

Matthew Ricard, using scientific techniques, convincingly presented the importance of happiness and its differentiation with pleasure (see video). Happiness is peace and long-lasting, where pleasure is exciting but short-live. Using meditation as an example, he showed how one can be trained to be happier. This Idea gives you a direction to which you may choose to live your life.

There are at least three important characteristics between these two and other Ted Talks. (1) They modifies what we already know, (2) They provide you with a Perspective, and (3) They can be put into practice.

One, good Ideas have to be a worthy modification to what we already know. Our knowledge is so ingrained with what we do. It makes no sense to introduce a totally new array of vocabularies. But modification has to be made progressively to improve our lives.

Two, the addition to what we already know has to provide you with a new Perspective -- a new way of thinking. The idea that third world countries are no longer poor, may alter the suggestions created by our thoughts. If I am a business man, I may start seeing them as partners. As a social entrepreneur, I may have to relook at whether my work is contributing to the right places.

Three, good Ideas are practical. They are not so abstract that I cannot explain them in terms of physical objects and apply in my life. This is in line with Confucius:

博学之，审问之，慎思之，明辨之，笃行之.

It represents the progression as a wholesome person: (1) Learning, (2) Asking, (3) Contemplating, (4) Debating, and (5) Acting. In the Chinese culture, knowledge that cannot be acted upon is useless day-dreaming. This actionable characteristic is an important aspect of knowledge.

We may confuse Ideas with information. Ideas are a type of information, but not all. Because ultimately, Ideas provide with us a Perspective: a modified value/principle/motivation. Its not entirely new per say. Rather it changes a part of our thoughts framework, like a wave that our associated thoughts stream is also affected. Information, such as a data on birthrate of third world countries over the years, may not have such effects. But putting all together in a frame, an Idea is born.

The fascinating aspect of Ideas is how they are integrated into our knowledge which tell us what actions to take in our life. Both Hans and Matthew did not tell us how to act. But we KNEW it from their Ideas. The Idea is like a magnet that drawn in bits of relevant knowledge, and reformat them in the thoughts stream. It literally does not inform you a lot, yet it tells you a great deal. This is how it becomes actionable.

When the Idea begins to draw in our knowledge and re-sewn its framework, new course of actions become obvious. There is no need to learn new vocabulary or theory, the Idea merely interacts with existing practices and transforms them into something new.

So said, Ideas will only make sense to matured recipients. Take the example of the Idea of computer gaming as a profession. This Idea takes twenty years of computer gaming to become a matured one. In the early 1980s, when are are playing Space Invaders, Pac Man, and Heroes of the Lance, gaming was merely an interaction between the gamer and the pc. Gamers do not talk to each other while gaming. We exchange clues and codes, and there are some brighter students who helped us hack parts of the code. But the community was never beyond the bound of our school. Today, gamers talk to each other much more. Clues, codes, and hacks, were available from the Internet. Gamers, who do not know each other, met and compete in Internet cafes, and quite recently in global gaming competitions. With development of more sophisticated games and Internet, Idea of professional gaming met the conditions to ripen. Once seeded, it germinates healthily in a matured environment.

I would like to argue that its not easy to pick the right time and right place to seed an Idea. Many good Ideas were rejected because they were not ready to be absorbed by most people. Today, if we grab someone and tell him that gamers are going professionals, I bet they will give you a skeptical smile and say, "Wow, interesting!" In ten years perhaps, they may tell you, "Yeah, it was on TV yesterday." How mercurial!