The “Novelty Imperative” and Its Discontents

This essay examines the proposition that the pursuit of novelty is a primary and independent causal factor in technological change. By examining the role of novelty historically, both internally within engineered artifacts and externally, in the built world that humans inhabit, the author argues that when the pursuit of novelty merges with a resurgence in previously discarded or outdated tools and processes, it can challenge and even overturn common assumptions about technological change. These assumptions—that innovation progresses in a linear fashion and newer technologies are inherently superior, more advanced, desirable, powerful, or transformative—may be disrupted, complicated, or entirely undermined by the “novelty imperative.” The hunger for novelty, whether arising from the individual or collective psyches of society, is a persistent object of fascination and study for economists and historians of technological change. This essay draws on the rich example of the revival among classical musicians of so-called “authentic instruments” over the past 50 years and, in particular, the renewed enthusiasm for the fortepiano, which was supplanted by the modern piano about 200 years ago and is today providing a means of achieving novel expressions of technologically mediated music that clearly appeals to listeners and performers. The example of the fortepiano (and early instruments generally) enriches our understanding of the appeal of novel innovations, both from the standpoint of creators of tools and their consumers and in historical and contemporary settings.