The Utterly Neuz–Notes on the Sociology of Invention

December 17th, 2007 Posted in Invention

The utterly new is rare. The out-of-the-blue is possible but the neuz is more likely to be anticipated and prefigured. Think of the original beyond original as among the giant leaps for mankind, or perhaps as a wild moment of genius in response to catastrophe. But the higher probability weighs on the side of a connect to the past. The modest inventor, who makes-up or discovers the neuz, claims that he only sees farther by standing on the shoulders of giants.

The image from the circus of the slow building up of the human pyramid–the bigger and stronger below and in the past, the lighter and leaner on top at present. The construct rising over time, idea leading to idea. The ancient ancestral ape, knuckles barely clearing his feet, pictured way back near the beginning, is carried by a bright-eyed inventive monkey.

The rare step, the impossible leap, is the heroic neuz. It is like the limit in calculus, approached and approximated but never reached. Once the new concept is accepted, finds its audience and its claque, the process of following logical implications can start. A filling in of the now not unexpected. DNA and its physical shape discovered and then the move on to sequencing. Rendering the patient unconscious and then on to complex surgery. Call this follow-up, this gleaning of the new field, the conventional neuz, another series of inventions, astonishing even if extensions of known paths.

CHART

Characterizing the Two Poles of Invention and Establishing the Range Between

Heroic Neuz: Extraordinary, Unusual, Opaque, Ambiguous, Surreal, Abnormal, Personal, Dangerous, Unexpected

Conventional Neuz: Ordinary, Familiar, Clear, Transparent, Logical, Rational, Normal, Cultural, Safe.

 

I think of the inventive energetic as universal for our human species. We use our senses to locate ourselves within our reality–to understand its resources, dangers, opportunities. As soon as the toddler stands and walks he begins to investigate. This awareness and testing is part of who we are. The possibility of making-up and finding is a standard element within the social actor. So there are two parts to invention: the energetic social actor and the environment, the ecological moment that presents itself as beyond the wish or will of the actor. This is the reality/mystery that confronts us.

Question: Isn’t it possible that the existences of an unfordable river and a floating log might present a sequence of ancestral actors with the reality/mystery that would eventually lead to the construction of the canoe or raft?

The simple model. Reality/mystery is converted to concept that becomes part of culture. But the segmented distribution of knowledge of the new concept means that some members of the social group or society who have not been informed will now be confronted with a new and man-made reality/ mystery. Or maybe those who know and accept the neuz are the bamboozled. I am suggesting that the construction of culture and even the reality/mystery around us is a continuous process.

A few other characterizations from literature on the moment of making-up or finding. (1) Ego meets alter in the forest without any inkling that such another could exist. (2) A German ape is offered a bunch of bananas just out of reach along with a pole that could be used as a tool. He sits and ponders the solution. (3) An American rat is placed in a maze and it scurries around at random until it trips over a lever that releases a pellet of food. (4) A scientist finds an unexpected result contrary to established theory. (5) The traveler in a desert with dwindling water supply. The onset of mirages, the illusion of a life saving oasis. But in the rescue narrative one of these dreams is real. (6) In your walks through a European landscape you find a carving of a fat lady on a rock.

More on Invention Later.