History Main / AppealToNovelty

* This fallacy, as an argument entirely in itself, tends to be the main battle cry of, or rationalisation for [[Transhuman Transhumanism]], not far behind ForScience.

* The UNIX operating system tends to be a target of this fallacy. Not so much Linux, but the BSDs will have this fallacy thrown at them, from time to time.

* [[{{Infomercial}} Infomercials]] rely on this fallcy. "The old way" of cleaning/exercising/brushing your teeth (which is usually a [[TheWarOnStraw Strawman]] to begin with) is represented by black and white footage of people TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket, while the new way is backed by dubious science, claims of cutting-edge technology, and being in color.

--->'''Leonard:''' I guess it couldn't kill us to meet some new people.
--->'''Sheldon:''' Actually, it could kill us. They could be murderers or the carriers of unusual pathogens.
--->-'''Leonard Hofstadter''' and '''Sheldon Cooper''', ''TheBigBangTheory''

* In the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' books, there is an ongoing debate between two strategic and technological schools of thought, one of which is the ''[[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench Jeuene Ecole''. In the early books, they are portrayed as StrawmanPolitical characters whose ideas are AwesomeButImpractical at best. In later books, their ideas begin to bear fruit, leading to GameBreaker weapons systems such as the [[LightningBruiser Super LACs.]]

* Windows 7. It's no better than XP, and any "new features" either come with or are compatible with Windows XP. Even worse, since it's newer, it has more bugs and holes than XP, which had previously stabilized.

* Chronological Snobbery

[[AC:Advertising]]

* ''HowIMetYourMother'': Barney believes that new things are always better. Ted then buys ten year old scotch and makes Barney buy the newest scotch in the bar.

:: Arguing that one thing is automatically better in every way than another because it is newer. See NewAndImproved. This argument is often made with regard to technology, where it is often supposed that anything "high tech" is automatically better than anything "low tech." Technology is all about fulfiling requirements, however, not just about cross-board improvement; for example, while a modern tank is faster and has a much more powerful gun than a World War 1 tank, it has inferior obstacle crossing abilities because its design represents a trade-off between visibility and obstacle crossing. CSLewis called this fallacy chronological snobbery.

* [[{{Infomercial}} Infomercials]] rely on this fallcy. "The old way" of cleaning/exercising/brushing your teeth (which is usually a [[TheWarOnStraw Strawman]] to begin with) is represented by black and white footage of people TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket, while the new way is backed by dubious science and claims of cutting-edge technology.

** And [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania tulips,]] yes, ''tulips.'' When tulips were first imported to the Dutch during the Dutch Golden Age, there was a massive craze for the new flowers. Prices for rare bulbs rose to (relative) heights that would make any dot.com millionaire seem like a pauper. The ensuing financial havoc after the bubble popped was devastating.

* An ad for a cell phone company (I forget which) that depicted James Earl Jones asking, "Talk talk talk pay, or pay talk talk talk?" He never bothered to point out *why* the latter is preferable.

* Whenever a new iteration of an electronic device comes out, be it cell phone, media player, gaming console, TV or whatever, you're guaranteed at least one company or line talking about the "new technical innovations" of their product; they of course conveniently don't point out that either those "innovations" have been standard for everyone BUT them for several years, or that the changes have little or nothing to do with the effectiveness of the product (i.e. a "new and improved grip" for a product that has to be set down to be used.)

* [[{{Infomercial}} Infomercials]] rely on this fallcy. "The old way" of cleaning/exercising/brushing your teeth (which is usually a [[TheWarOnStraw Strawman]] to begin with) is represented by black and white footage of people TooStupidToOperateABlanket, while the new way is backed by dubious science and claims of cutting-edge technology.

* The dot-com bubble was caused by many investors believing this fallacy; the new technology often blinded them to the unfeasability of many dotcom startups' business plans. Similar market bubbles have been associated with other new technology industries, including railroads, automobiles, radios and transistors.

This fallacy is the polar opposite of AppealToTradition.

:: Arguing that one thing is automatically better in every way than another because it is newer. See NewAndImproved. This argument is often made with regard to technology, where it is often supposed that anything "high tech" is automatically better than anything "low tech." Technology is all about fulfiling requirements, however, not just about cross-board improvement; for example, while a modern tank is faster and has a much more powerful gun than a World War 1 tank, it has inferior obstacle crossing abilities because its design represents a trade-off between visibility and obstacle crossing.

* British Television Quiz ''{{QI}}'' is extremely guilty of this trope. The entire premise of the show is turning "popular" knowledge on its head or proving old preconceptions wrong. As a result, lots of people believe the alternative, not for the inherent value of the statement, but because it's different..