Sound Ridiculous? Take a Second Look
The case for curiosity
This essay is one of 7 essays for The Tech Progressive Writing Challenge. Join the build_ Discord to join the conversation.
Last Thursday, I heard about a group that wanted to buy the Constitution.
My immediate reaction - this is insane. Crazy. No way. What?
A few days later, it was on CNBC.
The group is ConstitutionDAO, and they're aiming to buy a copy of the Constitution for about $20M. You can join too!
You can read more about ConstitutionDAO from one of our Tech Progressive writers, Nicholas Ptacek: What if we held hands and bought the Constitution together?
The World Is More Complex
But, this post is about my reaction to hearing about ConstitutionDAO on Thursday - it was initial skepticism, disbelief, and doubt (though I quickly got on board).
Lately, I’ve learned that in our new world, anything is possible. In a few days, a group of complete strangers can come together and raise millions of dollars powered by memes.
We now live in a complex environment with extreme variance.
Nassim Taleb writes that our modern world is becoming more complex.
It’s more complex because there are more connections, more interactions, and more dependencies between the most complex beings out there - humans.
No disrespect to our hunter gatherer ancestors, but they did not live in a complex environment. Today, you can connect with anyone in the world at any time. You can send them information and money instantly.
All of this makes for more variance and larger extremes.
And it's only getting more intense.
If you thought a small team of developers selling Instagram for $1 billion in two years was crazy, Solana is up 12,000% in the past year with a market cap hovering around $70B.
Anything is Possible
As we enter this increasingly complex environment, the mindset must be: anything is possible. We should approach new ideas with curiosity and an open mind.
Look at some past examples:
Bitcoin
The Internet
COVID
AirBnb
Inflation
Constitution DAO
All of these started small and insignificant. They were easy to dismiss.
"That's crazy."
"That will die out."
They did not.
Takeaway
If it sounds ridiculous, stupid, or crazy... it might be. But, maybe it's worth looking at with curiosity and an open mind rather than dismissing it.
Give everything and everyone a chance. You never know.