There was a time in the US, when an entire generation of people were raised by parents influenced by one Dr. Spock, whose crackpot hypothesis was taken to be some lost Gospel. It resulted in an entire generation of emotionally stunted humanoids that continue to pass down their emotional retardation to future generations.

Nihil novo sub sole. There is no idea or theory that has not been tried and thought of before. Only our egotism blinds us to think that we "invent" new concept that improve on collective sum of millenia of human experience. We are not any more clever than our forebears. We are merely more "special."