This was something I wrote a few months ago, but it’s quite appropriate for this blog, now.
Catching up on an old Economist (yes, I still love magazines and happily subscribe to many) I came across a great article on counting:
How do humans develop our sense of numbers? What faculties do babies start with, and how does it develop? I learned that Babylonians used base 60 math, and that in the 1940’s a German animal behaviorist named Otto Köhler trained ravens to open boxes with the same number of dots on the lid as a card held by the scientist. Animals dig numbers too.
But what caught my attention was this beautiful nugget:
Babies are born with many ways of making sense of what they see and hear. When shown the same things repeatedly, babies eyes wander; when the scene changes, their gaze return.
I already knew this is how babies behave.
But this time it finally hit me: NEW. It’s all about NEW.
NEW is a strong force
We are born with an innate interest in NEW. It’s a fascination we have from the beginning of life that we never lose. Babies have it. Adults have it. We love the new.
Even as infants, our eyes literally wander if we see something repeated too often. That explains so many behaviors, and yet there’s still more we could do to scratch this itch.
Addicted to twitter? You love the new. Deep into your feedreader? You love the new. Can’t get enough of friendfeed or blogs or news sites? Don’t worry, you’re normal. You love the new.
We love the new, too. And this is What Liveflows is about.