Being Human – Chris Brown Ruth Luzmore (1)

(2016); Gigerenzer and Todd (1999) 90 Huber and Kuncel (2016) 91 Kahneman (2011) 92 Baehr (2013) 93 Baehr (2013); Markey and Loewenstein (2014) 94 Baehr (2013) 95 Miller and Venditto (2021) 1kitap1.com/en Before modern communication technologies, the movement of ideas was embodied in human travellers: merchants carried knowledge alongside their wares, soldiers returned from battle with foreign concepts and religious pilgrims spread doctrines across continents.

The great trade routes, from the Silk Road to the spice routes crossing the Indian Ocean, served as highways for intellectual exchange as much as commercial enterprise. In ancient civilisations, ideas moved at a ‘walking pace’, inscribed on clay tablets or papyrus scrolls, or memorised by scholars who carried knowledge in their minds. 1 Mediaeval Europe concentrated knowledge in manuscripts, painstakingly copied by hand and guarded in monastic libraries. Other societies developed systems for preserving and transferring knowledge across generations through oral traditions and initiatory journeys.

Bambara wisdom from Mali has the saying that ‘words have no legs, yet they walk’, capturing the autonomous power of ideas to travel beyond their origins 2 and reminding us that ideas don’t have to respect borders. As they move, ideas transform, adapting to new cultures while changing those contexts in turn. 3 The spread of philosophical concepts, scientific discoveries and religious beliefs across continents demonstrates that intellectual exchange has always been a feature of human civilisation, but never one that is neutral or frictionless: power dynamics and cultural barriers have always shaped which ideas travel and how they are received.

With each communication innovation – paper, the printing press, the telegraph and eventually digital networks – ideas gained greater speed, reach and permanence. But with this speed, the challenge relating to our aims for an ideas-informed populace becomes even more pressing: ensuring that valuable ideas endure while harmful ones fade; promoting cross-cultural understanding while respecting diversity; and maintaining depth and nuance in an environment that often rewards simplicity and sensationalism. So what is it that gives certain ideas, and in particular, the focus of this chapter, less desirable ideas, the characteristics that make them resist correction or replacement?

Gladwell uses the term ‘stickiness’ to explain the quality that makes an idea memorable and impactful. ‘Stickiness means that a message makes an impact. You can’t get it out of your head. It sticks in your memory’. 4 While we often focus on making messages and ideas contagious, that is, reaching more people, we may overlook the equally important challenge of making them stick, ensuring that they don’t go in one ear and out the other. So while contagiousness is primarily a function of the messenger, ‘stickiness is primarily a property of the message’.

5 This distinction is particularly relevant when considering how dark ideas, like those we introduced earlier in the book, persist despite evidence against them. As Gladwell observes, ‘We all want to believe that the key to making an impact on someone lies with the inherent quality of the ideas we present.

University of Southampton, UK U n i t e d K i n g d o m – N o r t h A m e r i c a – J a p a n – I n d i a M a l a y s i a – C h i n a 1kitap1.com/en Emerald Publishing Limited Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21–23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL First edition 2026 Copyright © 2026 Chris Brown and Ruth Luzmore.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited. Reprints and permissions service Contact: www.copyright.com No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters’ suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-83549-385-4 (Print) ISBN: 978-1-83549-382-3 (Online) ISBN: 978-1-83549-384-7 (Epub) 1kitap1.com/en To the ideas that keep us curious and critical. 1kitap1.com/en CONTENTS About the Authors Introduction: This Is Not an Idea 1.

The Ideas-Informed-Society 2. Making an Ideas-Informed Society Happen 3. The Big Three 4. Rejecting Dark Ideas 5. Why Being Ideas-Informed Is Humanity’s Future References Index 1kitap1.com/en ABOUT THE AUTHORS Chris Brown is a Professor in Education and the Head of School at Southampton Education School, University of Southampton, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Ruth Luzmore is an experienced educator working and leading schools in the United Kingdom, most recently as a Primary Headteacher in London.

She is a Research Fellow at Southampton Education School, University of Southampton. 1kitap1.com/en INTRODUCTION: THIS IS NOT AN IDEA In 1929, the artist René Magritte famously painted a picture of a pipe, along with the words ‘ceci n’est pas une pipe’ [‘this is not a pipe’].

Not an actual pipe then, just an illustration of one. In a similar vein, with this book, we present an idea. An idea about ideas. But, at the same time, we firmly believe that ‘this is not an idea’ – instead, it’s a manifesto for how to usher in a world of ideas. Being picky, you might ask ‘what’s the difference?’.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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