Sexual Ideas Or Sex Between Ideas

Did you know that ideas have sex? Many may never have heard of journalist Matt Ridley but you're about to. You see there was once this drop dead gorgeous idea who is sitting at the bar looking around at the prospects. Lo and behold, this glorious hunk of an idea man strides in, sits down next to her and introduces himself. They hook up and I'll be if 9 months later (give or take a few seconds, months or years you understand) out pops this brand new, shiny idea squalling its head off for attention. The birth of a new idea so to speak. As with all babies, this one has the best genes from its parents.

Now I didn't realize the magnitude of ideas having sex, much less giving a thought before to the concept. The outcome should result in people seeing something they've never seen before and maybe making the world a better place to live. But you see, the ideas have to have sex in order for them to create that offspring. That's how the world works.

Matt Ridley, a noted British journalist, had this to say about it, "Ideas spread through trade. And when they meet, they can mate, and you can produce combinations of different ideas. I think a good example is a camera pill, which takes a picture of your insides on the way through. It came about (during) a conversation between a gastroenterologist and a guided missile designer ... a process very similar to sex in biology, because through sex, genes meet and recombine, and you get new combinations of genes. That's what causes innovation in biology, and innovation in culture." Control yourself, this is the mating of ideas we're speaking of here and not the normal hanky-panky that is running through your twisted minds.

So following along here, lets take a look at how living standards have increased in, say, the last 4 decades. We have to make corrections for inflation, being what it is but the average American's income has increased somewhere in the range of 30-40 percent. At the same time, the average life span increased by 30% across the board. Seems like a fair trade to me. Then the question begs itself, "How did that occur and why?" Before we proceed though let me give you some bad news. The average American's income dropped by 6.7% during this "supposed" recovery Obama keeps telling us we're in.

Now back to the question. None of that progress occurred due to anything close to the actions of central planning. That isn't the American way. Obama wants it to be otherwise, but that's not the way we operate. So what has kept it going? Lets try the spontaneity of the free market system which dictates who the winners and losers are rather than Big Brother telling us what is best for us. According to Ridley even when dumb people have idea sex the results are much more satisfying than those produced by an Einstein of a central planner. I'd have to agree having known some pretty dumb people along my path of life.

Here's a Ridleyism worth examining, "If you look at human history ... lots of people in a room who are talking to each other, however stupid they are, can achieve a lot more than a lot of clever people in the room who never talk to each other. So it's not individual intelligence that counts in how well a society works. It's how well people communicate and exchange ideas with each other." Then look at the gridlock we see being practiced by our dumb as dirt, career politicians and is there really any wonder why we're in the mess we're in? Their ideas need to have some serious sex but...

As a child of the 60's and 70's, I can relate to some of what I see these days. There are still pessimists galore. Back then we heard the lament of grown ups about how we just didn't understand how things really worked. They sound like politicians today telling us that we just don't understand how Washington works even though we do and don't like what we see. If you grew up back then you know exactly what I speak of - world famine was rampant and there was no cure, oil was finite and going to run out before we did, and the population explosion was going to be catastrophic. Has any of that occurred as we speak? Why hasn't it?

Give some credit to human ingenuity and the optimists that walk among us. Using ingenuity and good old sex between ideas things sometimes get cheaper, more abundant and in some cases much cleaner than what we had before. Unleaded gas versus leaded gas comes to mind. ATM machines tickle my intellect even though according to our President they were a bad idea that resulted in people being unemployed. So in four decades we have become a lot more healthy, life is cleaner as is the planet earth. Instead of gloom and doom the earth has become a better place despite those who want to cram central planning down our maws.

The human spirit, good old fashioned ingenuity and a strength of character that allows one to be all they can be without putting their paws out for a handout seems to be the ticket to the future. The lack of jobs seems to be a concern to many. I suggest that the federal government get the heck out of the way and let those of us who know which end is up make the necessary corrections to society, the marketplace and good old fashioned American ingenuity. It worked before and it will work again. Lets have a period of "free love" between ideas and see what happens. Now there's a new idea!

I'm just sayin...

As always,

The Frog Prince