neophilia
In the mind of many, the future stands for ‘new‘: new ways of life, new ways of organizing society, new technologies, new everything … Some people crave all things new. They run off to buy the latest gadgets, the latest fashion, the latest music … Nothing’s as old as the new. Is it mere status anxiety or is there something more going on?
The past few months there have been several occasions which reminded me of neophilia and things I read about the topic in the past few years.
An article (pdf) in the journal Current Science of last september, published by the Indian Academy of Sciences, notices the shift in connotation of the word neophilia from ‘attraction for the new’ to ‘obsession for anything new’. It links the latter to its negative consequences in terms of consumption patterns, e.g. several new mobile phones a year, mountains of toxic waste etc. (see NewScientist article). The article also links neophilia to the possibly problematic popularity of ever more new, ‘trendy’ courses at universities and polytechnics, their popularity often being at odds with the quality of the courses offered or all too easily uncoupled from the knowledge background required.
Japanese scientists of the Yamagata University School of Medicine claim to have found a link between neophilia and our genes, in the sense that some people are predisposed to be attracted by novelty, more than others. Their genetic code leads to an elevated production of the enzym monoamine oxidase A. The genetic link is contested, as many see neophilia as intimately linked to the way our society and most of all economy works, hence a human or societal phenomenon rather than a ‘genetic condition’.
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