"Those who tell the stories rule the world." —Aristotle
Creators think they're in the business of creating content, but really, I tend to think they're in the business of "world building."
Every single human being on planet earth has the same exact question: why are we here?
And on the path to seeking these answers, whether implicitly or explicitly, we are seeking out a tribe of people who agree with us on how we get there, and where 'there' even is to begin with.
Some of us agree with Steve Jobs notion that "the world was created by people no smarter than us" and design our lives around poking and prodding. Others agree with Ghandi, Casey Neistat, Jesus, or Oprah. While some of us live our lives as if we are inside of The Notebook.
For generations, we've sought out religious leaders, gurus, meditation teachers, and our parents' most successful friends to tell us what this whole life thing is about. Lately, we've sought out books, movies, and corporate leaders.
In the generations coming, however, we'll have greater access to maps for how life works. We aren't as interested in these mainstream, centralized news corporations or religions' takes on what's happening here.
That intersection, between still having the questions and distrusting the old answers is where creators come in. It's where world-building becomes important, and where a lot of these big ideas around decentralization, digital media, and entrepreneurship intersect.
The next couple of weeks, I'm going to be writing a handful of essays that relate to this "creators as world builders" thesis & covering some of the resources that have shaped my thinking around it.
Some topics to look out for:
- The rise of the "reality entrepreneur"
- Making movies is boring
- Individuals vs. Institutions
- What makes a world go round
- The cycles of bundling & unbundling
- Disney vs. The Next Disney
- Jay Z's world vs. Cole world
- Digital citizens, nomads, and immigrants
- Making truth accessible
- Why representation matters
- Single player vs. Multiplayer
- Stories rule the world
- Reality is one giant fork
- America's #1 export
- Personal agency is the #1 skill
- Hippies & conservatives are just too similar