Reptilian inhibition of innovation -- Noble dinosaurs?

Engendering a Psychopter through Biomimicry and Technomimicry (Part #7)

Requisite craziness: With respect to the first point, namely understanding the aerodynamics of flight, it is especially noteworthy that the first vehicle capable of taking off vertically and flying horizontally -- other than a balloon -- was developed by Étienne oehmichen (duly rewarded by the Aéro-Club de France for his flight on 4 May 1924). He is known for his very extensive study of flying insects and birds to that end -- studies currently being re-explored with respect to the development of drones. His original preoccupation with that source of of inspiration was widely ridiculed at the time -- notably in the form of cartoons and comic strips.

It is the process by which he acquired those insights which is far less clear and merits attention in the light of the remark of Freeman Dyson:

When a great innovation appears, it will almost certainly be in a muddled, incomplete and confusing form. To the discoverer, himself, it will be only half understood; to everyone else, it will be a mystery. For any speculation which does not at first glance look crazy, there is no hope! (Innovation in Physics, Scientific American, 199, 3, September 1958)

Unfortunately the significance of the remark is highlighted by the context and by subsequent events. It was made with respect to a much-cited Bohr-Pauli interaction regarding requisite craziness in theoretical physics. Niels Bohr declared in response to Wolfgang Pauli:

We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough.

At the time of writing, with respect to Daniel Schectman -- the Nobel laureate in chemistry in 2011 for his work on quasicrystals -- the Nobel committee noted:

His discovery was extremely controversial. In the course of defending his findings he was asked to leave his research group.

Shechtman experienced several years of hostility toward his non-periodic interpretation -- he recounts that "people just laughed at me". A double Noble laureate in his field asserted that he was "talking nonsense" and "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists" -- suggesting further that he go back and re-read the conventional crystallography textbooks. In being asked to leave his research team, it was argued that Schectman was bringing shame upon their work.

Noble dinosaurs: In a spirit of both technomimicry and biomimicry, given the acceptance now accorded to quasicrystals as patterns of non-repeating order, are there analogous forms of psychosocial order of significance -- to be fruitfully contrasted with rigid understandings of the "order" of law and order?

In relation to so-called scientific revolutions, and the much-appreciated emergence of new paradigms, what is the "evolutionary" process whereby a Nobel laureate effectively evolves "retrogressively" into a dinosaur -- a "noble dinosaur", incapable of recognizing what is "crazy enough"? Is there a need to recognize the existence of such dinosaurs in the academic world and leadership of today -- even of the nobility of a Tyrannosaurus rex? Where are the case studies of such behaviour? For example:

Arthur Eddington is renowned for his public ridicule of astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, for the latter's discoveries leading to the currently accepted theory on the later evolutionary stages of massive stars -- for which he was later awarded the Nobel Prize.
the Galileo Affair offers an early "case study" of Galileo Galilei and the retraction forced upon him by the Papal Inquisition in 1633 regarding his evidence for heliocentrism. He is widely alleged then to have murmured E pur si muove.
Barry Marshall and Robin Warren discovered the Helicobacter pylori for which they were widely ridiculed by the medical community -- only later to be awarded the Nobel Prize

What is to be understood of the learning processes of such as Dmitiri Mendeleev and others in relation to ether theories -- given the subtlety of current theories -- or of Isaac Newton in relation to the ether and alchemy. It is recognized that Newton's interest in alchemy cannot be isolated from his renowned contributions to science. Of particular relevance to this argument are the learnings of Leonardo da Vinci in relation to flight, with his studies of the flight of birds, including his Codex on the Flight of Birds (c. 1505), as well as plans for several flying machines, including a light hang glider and a machine resembling a helicopter. Views contrary to current wisdom -- such as the alchemical studies of Newton -- are deprecated much as though those holding them were covert sex offenders.

Reptilian mindset? Whilst being "laughed at" is no guarantee of being awarded a Nobel Prize, not being laughed at would seem to be a stronger guarantee of being a non-recipient -- for not being "crazy enough". There is however no Nobel Prize for governance even though global governance is now widely seen as risible. The laughter of those seen as benefitting most from it might however well be understood as "reptilian" -- consistent with the highly controversial argument of conspiracy theorist David Icke regarding reptilian humanoids. Of course, given the millions of years during which the dinosaur species existed and able to reflect on the threat to their future evolution, it might be speculated that dinosaurs developed an early form of the mind uploading technology (envisaged by Ray Kurzweil and others) to enable their continued existence within species which evolved into Homo sapiens.

If there are useful evolutionary reasons to recognize the current existence of "reptilian mindsets" characteristic of dinosaurs (and the "reptilian brain"), there is a case for taking account of their credibility in popular mythology. The award winning movie animation The Dark Crystal (1982), with an associated book (The World of The Dark Crystal, 1982) offers a graphic set of indicators of current relevance to globalization and its exploiters. Of greater popularity is the mythology of J. R. R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings, 1954) and its associated movie versions (The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, 2001-2003). Noteworthy is the portrayal of the primary antagonist, Sauron -- an appropriately saurian name. Separately it is argued that myth offers a key to framing the current dilemmas of governance (Relevance of Mythopoeic Insights to Global Challenges: cognitive integration implied by the Lord of the Rings, 2009; The "Dark Riders" of Social Change: a challenge for any Fellowship of the Ring, 2002).

Misleadership: In a time of unprecedented crisis in governance of the global economy, is it appropriate to assume that leadership is now effectively provided by "noble dinosaurs" lacking any meaningful accountability? This can be variously described, as discussed separately:

The future will no doubt describe the current situation as a vast dramatic display of non-decision-making -- "fiddling while Rome burns". Are the self-selected councils of the wise -- the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission, the Club of Rome, the World Economic Forum, and the like -- then to be understood as councils of "noble dinosaurs?

Should their deliberations be understood as elegant exercises in pattern replication -- "rearranging deck chairs for the eminent on the Titanic", perhaps in unconscious anticipation of their own imminent extinction event? As suggested by the Titanic metaphor, in such settings strategies are complacently elaborated by ignoring underlying central problems, as separately discussed (Lipoproblems: Developing a Strategy Omitting a Key Problem -- the systemic challenge of climate change and resource issues, 2009).

Is the possibility of "getting off the ground" effectively constrained by a mindset corresponding to the widely-told anecdote regarding the "scientific proof" that the bumble bee cannot fly -- in the light of the principles of aerodynamics? Is it the unfortunate essence of "institutionalized science" to think "inside-the-box" in an effort to get phenomena and principles into an explanatory box -- reversing the challenge of Pandora? Is this echoed in the advice to a Nobel laureate to "re-read the crystallography textbooks" or by others to "re-read the scriptures"? Is it echoed metaphorically in policy think "tanks" (Tank-thoughts from Think-tanks: constraining metaphors on developing global governance, 2003)?

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Reptilian inhibition of innovation -- Noble dinosaurs?