On Ideas
Ideas are the only thing that scales. And ideas have consequences — the best and worst things humans have ever done were caused by them.
“If you have an apple and I have an apple, and we exchange these apples, then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” — George Bernard Shaw
Ideas are the only thing that scales like this.
The known universe operates via cause and effect. The space of ideas, no matter how abstract it feels, still sits inside that universe — which means ideas have consequences. The best and worst things humans have ever done were caused by ideas: religious conviction, scientific discovery, political ideology, a story someone told themselves about who they were. Ideas all the way down.
People are the vehicles of ideas. We do not have ideas; ideas have us.
Consider what you actually like about someone you love. What you like are your own ideas about them — which are, in turn, shaped by their ideas. You find someone admirable because of how they think about loyalty or work or the world. You’re not connecting with a person; your ideas are connecting with theirs.
This is why acquiring good ideas matters, and why upgrading them never stops. A bad idea operating through a capable person can do more damage than incompetence alone. And a good idea, shared, doesn’t leave the person who shared it — it multiplies.
Take your ideas seriously. Where they came from, whether they’re reliable, what consequences follow from them if taken seriously. Most people never do this, which is why most people are surprised by where they end up.