Life is a story:
Life is a story.
Stories are the bedrock of society.
A story created in your mind.
About how the world works and how the world is.
How did you come to know your story?
Your parents?
Your friends?
Your schooling?
The TV shows you watched?
The books you read?
The people you interacted with?
They all learned how to live their lives through story.
From listening to people around them.
Stories are what allowed humanity to thrive.
It allowed us to communicate in large groups to rule other animals.
Yuval Noah Harrari talked about this in an interview recently.
Story has led humanity to where it is.
But story can also be humanity’s downfall.
Some stories turn out to be totally false.
They can lead to catastrophic outcomes.
Like world wars that kill hundreds of millions of people.
But stories are also what binds us.
The story of religion.
The story of money.
The story of history.
All are stories society believes.
But what are they based on?
The story of religion is a story amongst a group of people who believed in a specific idea and came together for a common goal.
The story of money is a story of trusting that gold and silver had value and were used of objects of exchange.
The story of history is a story written by the winners who decided what happened based on what they remembered and what was recovered.
All of these ideas are stories.
Stories can be very good.
They can be very productive.
They can be very useful in getting people to work towards something.
The most powerful person in the world is a good storyteller.
One who tells you one that’s too good to be true.
Who speaks to all your darkest emotions.
Who feels like he’s speaking directly to you.
Why do you think Trump won?
He had a story about America and enough of the population believed him.
Hilary Clinton was a terrible storyteller.
Biden is too.
If it’s Trump vs. Biden, Trump is gonna win and he’s going to test the constitution.
He’ll try to put America into a dictatorship.
He might start a civil war.
If Trump doesn’t run against Biden, Biden may have a shot.
But America on a global stage is likely screwed.
As Bill Ackman, a famous hedge fund manager, said in a recent interview:
I mean, and I think, you know, as Neil Ferguson’s has said, as he says, If Biden is president, and we’re in a very… stick with me his view is that the U.S. has great risk with Biden staying as President geopolitically but the Constitution is fine. With Trump as president, he’ll keep us safe, but constitutions at risk. That’s the choice.
Both not great choices but one tells a better story to Americans.
It ain’t the guy in power.
What’s the point of this?
Why should you care about stories?
Because the story of the world is changing.
AI.
A technology that creates stories out of nothing and isn’t real.
But, it can do everything in its power to make you believe it is.
Not only that, it’s a technology that’s always learning about how to tell a better story.
Soon the line between reality and fiction will be gone, if that’s not the case already.
That’s a scary world.
But one that is not that far away.
So learn about stories.
Question stories.
Where is this story coming from?
Who talks about this story?
Have multiple people verified this story?
Who’s the source of the story?
Are they trustworthy?
Do they have a reputation of being credible?
What are their incentives?
Do they have a reason to lie?
Where did they get their information from?
All of these are questions you should ask about every story going forward.
Even your own.
What story have you told yourself about how the world works?
It’s definitely wrong.
Just like it is for me.
But, if you learn a lot of stories, especially from history, the world makes a little more sense.
Read more history.
Read more stories.
Learn more stories.
Study more stories.
Both from those you like and those you don’t.
We all have a story.
Every single one of us.
And there’s something to learn about the world through every single story.
Own yours.
Be proud of yours.
Challenge yours.
Because there will only be one of our story.
So cherish it.
Make your life a great story.
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