# The Idea of Making Ideas Is a Cultural Invention by George Lakoff > “What is required for all other human inventions is the notion that one can actively, consciously construct new ideas. We take this for granted, but it is not a "natural" development. Three-year-old children have lots of ideas and even make up new ideas. But they do not have the Idea of an Idea that they can construct anew; they do not naturally arrive at the idea that making up new ideas is something people do. The Idea of an Idea is a cultural creation that children have to learn.” > **— George Lakoff**, *1999 Edge Annual Question, response passage* ## Sources and Context - **Original Edge response:** [Professor of Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley — George Lakoff](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11731) — a verbatim passage from George Lakoff's 1999 Annual Question response, expressing the author's position at the time. The linked response supplies its surrounding context. - **Local archival entry:** [[research/Edge 1999 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 1999 Full Quotation Curation]] (EDGE1999-018). ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Synthetic Cambrian Explosion as a Technological Speciation Event|The Synthetic Cambrian Explosion as a Technological Speciation Event]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Cultural Evolution|Cultural Evolution]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “What is required for all other human inventions is the notion that one can actively, consciously construct new ideas. We take this for granted, but it is not a "natural" development. Three-year-old children have lots of ideas and even make up new ideas. But they do not have the Idea of an Idea that they can construct anew; they do not naturally arrive at the idea that making up new ideas is something people do. The Idea of an Idea is a cultural creation that children have to learn.” — George Lakoff, 1999 Edge Annual Question https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-george-lakoff-idea-making-ideas-cultural-invention ```