Jazz – (Buddy Bolden 1895)
Rock-n-roll – (as early as the 1920s or possibly Arthur Crudup’s 1947 release)
CyberPunk (Neuromancer in 1984)
There is nothing new under the sun.
How do “new” things come about?
My little foolish theory is that a person does something ever so slightly different.
(I think their doing it differently has to do with their link -see my theory The Link– to some other field. Thank you Thomas Kuhn)
So, they do it differently, but it might not yet be a leap. And then others copy it, they all start a-stealin’ and a-copyin’ from each other. And the next thing you know someone puts a name on it. Actually lots of names circulate for a while. And then one name sticks to history and that’s that.
So if – you’ve found something novel, or you rework someone else’s baby; if you see lots of people playing with the foundation of a thing; if there are many names for it, but nothing has spread or stuck – you might just be a the start of something “new.” If so, hold onto your hat. Enjoy the ride.