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Neophile orNeophiliac, a term popularised by authorRobert Anton Wilson, is a personality type characterized by a strong affinity fornovelty. The term was used earlier byChristopher Booker in his 1969 bookThe Neophiliacs, and byJ. D. Salinger in his 1965 short story "Hapworth 16, 1924".
Neophiles/Neophiliacs have the following basic characteristics:
A neophile is distinct from arevolutionary in that anyone might become a revolutionary if pushed far enough by the reigning authorities or social norms, whereas neophiles are revolutionaries by nature. Their intellectual abhorrence of tradition and repetition usually bemoans a deeper emotional need for constant novelty and change. The meaning of neophile approaches and is not mutually exclusive to the termvisionary, but differs in that a neophile actively seeks first-hand experience of novelty rather than merely pontificating about it.
The opposite of a neophile is aneophobe; a person with an aversion to novelty and change.Robert Anton Wilson speculates in his 1983 bookPrometheus Rising that theIndustrial Revolution and relatedenlightenment represents one of the first periods of history in which neophiles were a dominant force in society. Wilson observes that neophobes tend to regard neophiles, especially extreme ones, with fear and contempt, and to brand them with titles such as "witch," "satanist," "heretic," etc.
Open-source advocate and programmerEric S. Raymond observes that this personality is especially prevalent in certain fields of expertise; in business, these are primarilycomputer science and other areas of high technology. Raymond speculates that the rapid progress of these fields (especially computers) is a result of this. A neophile's love of novelty is likely to lead them into subjects outside of the normal areas of human interest. Raymond observes a high concentration of neophiles in or around what he calls "leading edge subcultures" such as science fiction fandom,neo-paganism,transhumanism, etc. as well as in or around nontraditional areas of thought such as fringe philosophy or theoccult. Raymond observes that most neophiles have roving interests and tend to be widely well-read.
There is more than one type of neophile. There are social neophiles (the extreme social butterfly), intellectual neophiles (the revolutionaryphilosopher and thetechnophile), and physical/kinetic neophiles (theextreme sports enthusiast). These tendencies are not mutually exclusive, and might exist simultaneously in the same individual.
The word "neophilia" has particular significance in Internet andhacker culture.The New Hacker's Dictionary gave the following definition to neophilia:
The trait of being excited and pleased by novelty. Common among most hackers,SF fans, and members of several other connected leading-edge subcultures, including the pro-technology 'Whole Earth' wing of theecology movement,space activists, many members ofMensa, and theDiscordian/neo-pagan underground (seegeek). All these groups overlap heavily and (where evidence is available) seem to share characteristic hacker tropisms for science fiction,music.
Research has uncovered a possible link between certain predisposition to some kind of neophilia and increased levels of the enzymemonoamine oxidase A.[1]