Creativity. Is it an issue with Bitcoin & Crypto Currencies.

I don't often write about subjects that are not directly related to mining but this morning I will make an exception.

During my morning reading of Slashdot an article caught my eye, it was entitled "Study: People Are Biased Against Creative Thinking" and it linked to an interesting article on www.slate.com written by Jessica Olien titled "Inside the Box" or the more appropriate (in my opinion) subtitle of "People don’t actually like creativity.".

In the article Jessica explores the ideas of a publication from Cornell University in 2011.  The paper conducted two separate studies and came to a conclusion that I did not expect, apparently there is a bias against creativity and while people desire creative ideas, they often reject them.  The study goes on to find that when presented with a creative idea people will more often than not be unable to recognise it as such.

When I read the (rather long-winded) abstract from the paper I could not help but apply it to bitcoin and other crypto currencies;-

People often reject creative ideas even when espousing creativity as a desired goal. To explain this paradox, we propose that people can hold a bias against creativity that is not necessarily overt, and which is activated when people experience a motivation to reduce uncertainty. In two studies, we measure and manipulate uncertainty using different methods including: discrete uncertainty feelings, and an uncertainty reduction prime. The results of both studies demonstrated a negative bias toward creativity (relative to practicality) when participants experienced uncertainty. Furthermore, the bias against creativity interfered with participants’ ability to recognize a creative idea. These results reveal a concealed barrier that creative actors may face as they attempt to gain acceptance for their novel ideas.

It has always been somewhat of a mystery to me as to why some people seem to automatically dismiss bitcoin as either a Ponzi or Pyramid Scheme dispute showing few if any of the traits but thanks to Cornell, I think I have a better understanding.

Is it that bitcoin and crypto currency's are just too creative an idea to be accepted by most?

However, there does seem to be a silver lining to the paper.  It seems that if successful eventually a creative idea will be accepted and celebrated as such, unfortunately though it is only when the idea has made it "out of the box" and is considered the norm.