Utopia Already Exists, It's Just Not Widely Distributed
How to play good games with smart people
I used to get really uncomfortable around people I perceived as more intelligent than myself. For some reason, resistance would always build up in my skull when I spent time with them. I’d tell myself excuses for why they were better than I was in whatever domain, excuses which calmed my anxiety. I spent my first two years at university alone, spending time with less or equally experienced people. My ego was safe, but I could have learned so much more if I branched out as an underclassman!
Why did this happen? One reason: a zero-sum mindset. Although I would never have admitted it, deep down I believed that the success of others was a threat to my own. I distanced myself from successful people as much as possible. Whenever I came into contact with someone who was farther advanced in my niche, I felt pain. It was shortsighted. I could have been excited to meet someone who had something to teach me!
Over the past few years, things have changed. I am now part of a community that challenges me to grow, teaches me how to be a better engineer, and helps me evaluate whether I am using my time well. These people help me think bigger, make better decisions, and take pride in my accomplishments. No one is trying to beat anyone else. We are an opportunity-detection network with a single goal: to enable everyone to become the best version of themselves.
There are a few cultural trends in this country that make communities like this rare. Firstly, the individualistic tendencies of the American Dream make it difficult to conceive of success in a communal sense. When we think of people like Nikola Tesla, Michael Jordan, or Alan Turing, we attribute their success to their individual talents. However, each one of these people inhabited a milieu of ideas that served as the source of their inspiration. Furthermore, they could think freely without persecution. They built on each other’s ideas. Without Einstein, there would be no Dirac. In today’s society, though, people talk about success as though it were something achieved completely independently, without help from others. We esteem “making it on your own.” This encourages people to isolate themselves, forcing them to reinvent the wheel rather than inventing something new. By sharing your problems with those who have already faced them, you don’t have to create new solutions. This allows you to spend your precious time working at the forefront of your field, rather than redoing others’ work. Having a strong community thereby enables everyone to work on the exciting new problems that no one yet knows how to solve.
The other problem that we face in our modern culture is that people think that they need to do things for some “benefit,” i.e. to get a job, to make money, or to receive recognition. We apply for a research position to get “experience” with no regard as to whether we are actually interested, or whether our work will make an important contribution. To pursue something as an end in itself is viewed as impractical, there must be some value to extract from the situation. I frequently see people fall into the trap of thinking of selfish motivations as “down to earth” and “realistic,” but this cynical worldview will make you view your relationships as transactions.
“Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”
— John F. Kennedy
If your only motivation is to help yourself, then why would I help you? In a world where people are constantly looking for ways to “get ahead,” cooperation is inherently risky. In a culture that plays merely for the sake of winning, of beating the other guy, the world becomes a stratified place where only Machiavellian sociopaths make it to the top. A rat race. People would only work together out of compulsion, there would be no joy in community. Therefore, we need to build a world where cooperation happens because it is inherently meaningful, not because there is something to be gained from the other person.
Over the past year, I recognized how these cultural trends affected the way I behaved in college. I was afraid to form new relationships because I felt that everywhere I looked my peers were trying to gain something. Everywhere I looked, I saw people seeking resume boosters, attention, and status. We played the wrong games: we competed with each other. As a result, the Class of 2023 has largely failed itself. We didn’t make each other better, and our personal development ground to a halt as a result.
We have been sold a false narrative that pursuing things as an end in themselves will inhibit our capacity for achievement. We believe that by helping our neighbor, we hurt ourselves. This is clearly wrong. We should create games that encourage us to help each other, challenge each other to grow, and become the best versions of ourselves.
Seek out people who are smarter than you. People who will call you on your bullshit. People whose accomplishments make you pause to reflect on whether you have thought big enough, on whether you are pursuing things for the right reasons. The best people are the ones who seek success for themselves and their peers. The ones who understand that it takes a village. Find these people and help them. If you can’t, then ask them to help you. Seek out mentors who are more knowledgeable, elders who are wiser, colleagues who are more ambitious, and friends who are more grounded than you are.
Utopia already exists, it’s just not widely distributed.