Neomania: A short history of the obsession

Chapter 3 examines the deep historical roots of our society’s obsession with novelty. In the seventeenth century, thinkers like Bacon recast science as a vehicle for discovery and societal progress, embedding the ideal of the new at its core. Over time, this vision solidified into institutional norms and policy frameworks that define science primarily through its role in driving technological change and economic growth—most notably in innovation models such as the linear model and the Triple Helix.

Other twentieth-century developments entrenched this trajectory. Post-war science was positioned as a driver of national prosperity, and legislation such as the Bayh-Dole Act incentivized commercialization and patenting. Universities evolved into entrepreneurial hubs, forging deep ties with industry and turning research into a marketplace of ideas. The social sciences and humanities were not exempt from this entrepreneurial logic. Increasingly, they were enlisted to facilitate the public acceptance of innovations, positioning themselves as auxiliary engines of progress rather than autonomous domains of inquiry.