Neophobia, the fear of the new Wikipedia describes it as:
“Neophobia is the fear of new things or experiences. It is also called cainotophobia. In psychology, neophobia is defined as the persistent and abnormal fear of anything new. In its milder form, it can manifest as the unwillingness to try new things or break from routine. The term is also used to describe anger, frustration or trepidation toward new things and toward change in general. Some conservative and reactionary groups are often described as neophobic, in their attempts to preserve traditions or revert society to a perceived past form. Technophobia can be seen as a specialized form of neophobia, by fearing new technology”
In a time when all we hear and read about the need for constant innovation, renewal and change it is interesting to take neophobia into consideration. Wikipedia mentiones a book by Robert Anton Wilson called Promethues Rising, in which the author argues that neophobia is instinctual in people once they have become parents and raise children.
It reminds me of a book by Douwe Draaisma: Why life speeds up as you get older. Draaisma uses an example of a Willem van de Hull, a Dutchman who lived in the 18th Century and who wrote a meticulously detailed memoir. A histogram of recollections shows that there is a peak between the age of 15 to 25, a period in our life in which “events occur that shape our personality, determine our identity and guide the course of our life”. Does Draaisma’s analysis indicate that neophobia is a biological phenomena wired-into our genetics? This argument would almost render all the talk about change and innovation meaningless for anyone older than 25, married and with children.
British biologist Rupert Sheldrake takes a different view with a “Morphic field” in which a “certain group which has already established its (collective) morphic field, will tune into that morphic field. The particular form will read the collective information through the process of morphic resonance, using it to guide its own development. This development of the particular form will then provide, again through morphic resonance, a feedback to the morphic field of that group, thus strengthening it with its own experience resulting in new information being added (i.e. stored in the database).”
Sheldrake argues that change comes slow but when it reaches its peak it is implemented with great ease. Examples used by Sheldrake include a study on birds in the Uk who learned opening milk bottles. The study found that when a certain type of new closure for milk bottles was introduced initially birds in a certain area of the UK discovered how to open these bottles, and that the method then was “discovered” by other birds all over the country. According to Sheldrake’s theory the morphic field is extending geographically through resonance. He acknowledges that the learning curve for things new is faster in children (learning to use computers for example) but still the factor of an increasing number of users adds to the speed with which the change is being adopted.
