The well-known Apple slogan Think different attracts a lot of people. People like to feel unique, just see the global market size of fashion industry, where people pay mainly for uniqueness. But do we really think, and more importantly, do different? In my opinion, the current social structures and technological order discourage people from doing unusual things that are different from the mainstream. And it seems to me that this loss of creativity and energy is the most important problem of our century, and not some kind of climate change or increasing social inequality in society. What are the reasons for this social reduction in desire do something different?
Zero level (biological-evolutionary). People are social creatures, so their position in society is very important to them ("recognition as the driving force behind human behavior" (c) Tyler Cowen). However, humans, with a planning intelligence that sets them apart from all other animals, are free to choose. With freedom comes risk and uncertainty: humans don't know in advance what to choose, so they look to others for cues. René Girard called this effect mimetic desire (we desire what others desire because we imitate their desires) and defined imitation as the fundamental mechanism of human behavior. This explains the biological basis for people to imitate each other in their aspirations and, consequently, the absence of prerequisites for a large differentiation of activities within a particular society.
The first level (psychological-cultural). Crazy ideas are always perceived with caution by society. But in some societies, social structures allow some of these ideas to flourish, while in others they do not. As Ben Landau-Taylor points out "tolerant [to economic disruptions] institutions and culture have been a necessary component of industrial supremacy since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution". There are now fewer and fewer societies with such social structures that support crazy ideas. In addition, we have forgotten how to make commitments, without which it is impossible to push any crazy idea to a positive ending (Elon spent at least 15 years to make his electric cars gain great popularity).
The second level (economic and political). I see careerism flourishing, especially among talented people - people are increasingly embraced by the desire for more options instead of pursuing risky and more creative career avenues. Perhaps this is due to the successful strategy of attracting new employees by Wall Street / management consulting / tech corporations or increased complexity of tasks, due to which more mature people get the most interesting tasks, but the trend is clear - today's most prestigious career tracks lead to misallocation people's creativity.
Because of so many of the above reasons, the question may arise - how then can crazy things be created at all? In general, this is possible: 1) biologically we have a sense of curiosity - an attraction to something new, which, after overcoming some resistance, attracts people and quickly becomes a new norm like environmentalism; 2) society somehow reproduces individuals who are capable of crazy innovations - often these people turn out to be anti-social, for example, with Aspenger's syndrome; 3) in addition, these people often unite in clusters, creating their own mini-culture, in which such ideas are born and nurtured; 4) the instituons of some countries such as the US are still capable of supporting unique and crazy ideas.
But in such circumstances, the flowering of crazy ideas seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Can we somehow redirect the incentives in the capitalist system towards creating something more creative and unique? For example: