# Idea Work By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-01-08 Much is written about how ideas spread. From a network perspective, someone has an idea and tells two people about it. Then, they tell two more people about the idea until everyone knows. As a species, this behavior of spreading ideas and systemic outcomes is nearly constant and mathematically predictable. This makes sense because, as a social species, we rely upon collective information to discern between threats and opportunities. However, knowing an idea does not mean it is or will ever be collectively accepted. Very few ideas get implemented by society, and it typically takes decades, if not centuries, to change values and beliefs. For example, see the spread of human rights, governing principles, and epistemology (theory of knowledge as the intersection of truths and beliefs). As a case in point, the idea of democracy was known for thousands of years before versions of it became a socially accepted and implemented reality. So, those who work on ideas should be prepared for two things. First, likely, one will never see one's ideas implemented. The best-case scenario is often that one's idea becomes known within one's lifetime, but one will never see it happen. The most likely outcome is to be completely and utterly forgotten. Second, genuinely innovative ideas are built upon ideas that are still being implemented. Thus, the odds of idea implementation are even more far-fetched. If one cares about implementation, idea work amounts to yelling underwater or in the endless void of space. The story is different if one does the idea work for reasons beyond implementation or glory. One may work with ideas for self-satisfaction and curiosity. Or, one may believe that idea work is virtuous and part of human progress of finding meaning in the universe, even if no one listens. This is where modern business, economic, and organizational paradigms fail to understand, as they would only see the point of working on things with a clear outcome. Yet, all of them are full of pointless work that seems to exponentially multiply the more they try to eliminate it in the name of productivity. So, pointlessness is an unavoidable and universal constant. The power of ideas is in their pursuit, not in their probabilistic and systemic outcome. As such, humanity exists to battle against the entropy and indifference of the universe. Ideas are decidedly unproductive by all accounts, making them existentially meaningful at a level beyond industrial mathematics. #### Related Items [[Ideas]] [[Work]] [[Economics]] [[Probability]] [[Progress]] [[The Human Condition]] [[Organization]] [[Paradigms]] [[Paradox]]