The World is Malleable

TW: Mentions a techbro

There is a 90 second video of Steve Jobs on the internet from the time SJ had a beard and lots of hair. In that, in less than 2 minutes, Steve Jobs makes an elevator pitch for a life that’s full of agency. I’m embedding it here so you can watch it.

But I’ll also post the transcript copied from the video description:

“. . . The thing I would say is, when you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is, and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. But life, that’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it. You can build your own things that other people can use. And the minute that you understand that you can poke life, and actually something will, you know, if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it. You can mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing is to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just going to live in it, versus embrace it. Change it. Improve it. Make your mark upon it. I think that’s very important. And however you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better. Because it’s kind of messed up in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

Once you learn that, you will never be the same again

It is true. Once you learn that the world is malleable, that you can bend the world (or at least some parts of it) to your will, you will never be the same again.

Whether you like silicon valley techbros or not, this is a powerful truth. It has the power to influence the choices you make. It is the difference between being a passive observer of the world and being an active participant in the world. This truth gives you agency.

For an alternative source you can refer to the first African-American US President who said in the victory speech in 2008, referencing the words of Martin Luther King Jr:

“It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.”

Your agency decides your politics

Agency is the sense of control you have about your life and the world around you. Agency is also the ability to act on it. When you know that the world can be changed, and you set out doing things such that it starts to change, you are acting with high agency. And vice versa.

In my experience, this directly influences your politics.

I draw a distinction between the politics you wish you had and the politics you really have. There are a lot of people who wish to be radically progressive. But aspirations do not matter much. Unless they have high agency, they will lack the courage to do things that constitute radically progressive politics. They will end up doing what a lot of people have been doing — being part of the problem, venting about it in private, and perpetuating the problem as it is.

Knowing the world is malleable makes courage easy

It is easy to be courageous when you know how you can succeed. And it is easy to find a way to succeed when you know that there is always a way. You can always make a way, if you know that it is possible to rearrange the world to make your way.

Is this just wishful thinking?

Maybe. Enter the ancient quote:

“The Man who says he can, and the man who says he can not.. Are both correct”

There’s no way someone else can find a way for you. If you think there’s a way, there is. If you don’t, then there’s not. It is whatever way you see that matters.

What about privilege?

From what I have seen, privilege is orthogonal to agency. You could be very privileged and act with no agency, and vice versa.

Is it possible that privilege makes it easier to find ways to succeed, and in turn that privilege makes it easier to develop a sense of agency? Possible. At least, I think that applies to me.

But it is also possible that surviving hardships can help people develop a sense of agency too.

I, therefore, do not see privilege as a prerequisite for agency.

But I do see agency as important to be able to use privilege. Without agency, privilege will just sit in cold storage. And possibly that is why despite there being so many privileged people, there’s much left to achieve in the world of social justice.

What to do with this?

You do not need an answer to that. The world is your oasis.