The Crisis of Originality

Are we really living in the 2000s?

Well, only if we adhere to the Gregorian calendar—a system grounded in Christian chronology that paints us as a ‘young’ civilization. But this view is misleading. Consider the Holocene calendar, starting 10,000 years earlier when the climate stabilized, ushering in agriculture and the very notion of a civil society. By this more sensible measure (in my opinion), we’d actually be in the year 12,024.

Suddenly, we’re no longer at the dawn of history but deep into our journey of civilization. Doesn’t it feel more futuristic, more evolved? Well, that’s because we are.

And if we dated ourselves by our age as a species, Homo sapiens, we’d be around the year 300,024. This perspective clarifies the impact of our timeline: thinking we’re in humanity’s infancy may obscure how far we’ve actually come.

Over millennia, humanity has created endlessly—philosophers, psychologists, painters, musicians, writers, and poets have left a vast legacy. Yet, despite countless ideas already committed to paper, we continue to reflect, create, and philosophize. Today, though, merely echoing familiar concepts risks accusations of “lacking originality.” To be clear, if such similarity is intentional and malicious, it’s fair to critique; but when it arises naturally, it’s a marvel of human thought: diverse minds, unique contexts, yet converging insights. Creating something new doesn’t necessarily mean being the first; it’s about being authentic, expressing one’s essence through personal experience and reflection.

The risk today lies in thinking that everything has already been conceived, that human creativity is somehow exhausted. But it’s not. Past creators deserve respect and recognition, of course, but to stop at their achievements would mimic the same medieval mindset that stifled cultural growth. For me, anyone who adds new nuances to poems or ideas, extending meaning beyond what the original author imagined, is an artist.

Each person has the power to perceive, conceive, and frame ideas uniquely, with motivations all their own. Context, origin, purpose—everything differentiates us. Let’s not deny ourselves the right to express new art because there’s always the potential for originality, always the chance to reach someone new. We are evolved beings, and creativity has no limits on similarity.