Overton window. Who's laughing now?
Everything you believe has a shelf life. The Overton window decides what's normal and what's mad, and it is moving through your opinions right now.
THE GIST ON OVERTON WINDOW: "Who's laughing now?"
What is the Overton window?
It is the range of ideas you can hold without paying a price. It was sketched in the 90s by a think tank fundraiser called, imaginatively, Joseph Overton.
The insight is savage. Politicians don't lead public opinion. They find out where it already sits and stand in the middle of it.
What holds the window in place?
Ridicule. Everything outside it gets laughed at, and the laughter makes the window frame. Divorce used to end careers. A tattoo used to mean you were either at sea or in prison. The earth used to be flat.
Every time, the same thing happened. Somebody went first, got laughed at and kept going, and the laughing slowly stopped. Repetition led to familiarity, familiarity led to normality.
Whose judgment is that, really?
That feeling of 'that's ridiculous' isn't your judgment. It's the window enforcing its edge through you. Your grandparents had exactly the same feeling, with exactly the same certainty. They weren't stupid. Normal just moved.
What you're certain of today will be unbelievable to your grandchildren, and you can't know what.
How can you spot an idea that's coming?
There's a tell. Stupid ideas get laughed at once and forgotten. Early ones get laughed at louder every year, because a border only gets defended when something is pushing against it.
The future doesn't go to the smartest person in the room. It goes to the one brave enough to walk past your laughter.
Which idea will look obvious in 30 years?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
What is the Overton window?
The range of ideas you can hold without paying a price, sketched in the 90s by think tank fundraiser Joseph Overton.
Do politicians lead public opinion?
Huw says no. They find out where it already sits and stand in the middle of it.
How do you spot a future normal idea?
Stupid ideas get laughed at once and forgotten. Early ones get laughed at louder every year, because a border is only defended when something pushes against it.
See you on the next one.
What should the next one be? Suggest a topic for Huw to explain
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