Every good idea begins as an idea that doesn't quite jibe with the way things are done. Every breakthrough humanity has ever had began as an unconventional idea that no one had ever considered before.
400,000 BC: "Hey, what if we rub these two sticks together..."
The idea of trying to control one of the most destructive forces on Earth—fire—must have looked terrifying to early humans. The stuff that could burn your entire dwelling, give terrible burns to your skin, bring forests to their knees, and you want to create it and harness it? Insanity. And yet we wouldn't be here without the control of fire. Some researchers even propose that Neanderthals lost out to us because they couldn't control fire. 40,000 BC: "Hey, I wonder what's over that ridge..."
Those first humans who split off from the rest to explore the world were intense people. Probably had to drag a bunch of their kin along with them, possibly under threat of violence. Maybe they even had to leave because they were unwanted. Rebels. Troublemakers. The knee jerk reaction is to stay where it's safe, to not explore the unknown, but to give into that urge is to perish, die, and see your genes stricken from existence. 4,000 BC: "Hey, I wonder if this horse can support my weight..."
For most of human history, horses were just another animal to hunt and eat. But then some enterprising foraging nomads in the Eurasian steppe figured out that you could ride the things. The first few attempts to ride a horse might have ended in pain, injury, and even death. A kick to the head, a stomp to the body, a toss of the hips and a horse could destroy any human. It was truly a scary thing to start riding horses, but it became the key to humanity expanding across the continents and creating civilizations.
New ideas challenge the status quo, and that's exactly why they're so important. Of course, not every challenging or unconventional or scary idea ends up being a good idea. In fact, most of them probably never pan out. But that's exactly why we need to explore them rather than give in to our knee-jerk instinct and ignore them.
What unconventional or challenging ideas do you have? Do you think they can become good ideas?
Let me know in the comment section of New and Noteworthy.
