Reflections 22nd November

What's on my mind

The power of stories and play.

It was triggered by listening to Yuval Harari talking about his latest version of Sapiens - a graphic novel version, and why he wrote it. In essence, one of the main reasons that we Sapiens won out over Neanderthals (who had many physical and cognitive advantages) was our ability to work together in large numbers, and the reason we can work together in large numbers is our ability to tell each other improbable stories, and make them come true. It's a fascinating thought

It's all very well us saying "show me the evidence", but the evidence won't motivate and engage like "tell me the story". In a time of uncertainty such as we are in, we can either obsess with the evidence (which is going to be backwards looking, and often more threatening than inspiring) or we can weave stories, and then go after them.

This then is a time for stories. About what we see, and what we're going to do. When we are bombarded with doom from those who profit by it, …