Paul Graham‘s post on ‘Novelty and Heresy‘ is worth reading. as it reminds us that “If you discover something new, there’s a significant chance you’ll be accused of some form of heresy“.
“One common way for a good idea to be non-obvious is for it to be hidden in the shadow of some mistaken assumption that people are very attached to“. This leads to being treated as an heretic.
The point may be to figure out what is that assumption that people are very much attached to. I also tend to believe that this kind of discovery, while it is a risk, is also an opportunity as it opens an understanding of the world that won’t be shared by many people until it will become mainstream – and thus may become a competitive advantage.
Paul Graham suggests to look for heresies to identify truly new ideas. Taboos are possible sources of great innovation or at least a starting point to put in question commonly held assumptions.
And since truths have a half-life, what’s true today may not be true in a few decades therefore heresy today may be mainstream in a few decades too!
