Big ideas and small ideas

A recent article about Macolm Gladwell's new book in The Guardian draws attention, among other things, to his ability to articulate big ideas: the tipping point, outliers, etc. A recent profile of Larry Summers in The New Yorker notes that Summers' influence in the field of economics has been profound but he is known for many small insights rather than for one revolutionary big idea.

These observations raise the question of what is it that makes us long for big ideas? What form of messianism or salvation does the big idea promise?

And ten, twenty, fifty years from now, how many of these big ideas will endure?
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Sumanta Banerjee 's excellent article

Sumanta Banerjee has a terrific article in the Economic and Political Weekly, "Two Parallel Narratives"

"The case of the Sri Ram Sene leader Pramod Muthalik, who is facing some 40 criminal cases in Karnataka, epitomises the Indian state’s pussyfooting in dealing with Hindu religious extremists, while that of the Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy typifies the same state’s trampling down on dissenters upholding the cause of the poorer classes. In parallel, the confrontation between the morality of those who govern the Indian state and that of their Maoist opponents can best be encapsulated in a recapitulation of the careers of Union Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram and the Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy."

Full article here
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