1, #44 - Are you here?
Discover more from 1, by Jonathan Yagel
1, #44 - Are you here?
On the Danger of Time Travel — Estimated Read Time: 51 seconds.
If you want to build a company that’s worth over $100 Billion, you’ve got to build a time machine.
NYU professor Scott Galloway made this claim in a provocative talk earlier this year, but he’s not talking about flux capacitors: he’s actually talking about convenience.
Netflix saves you time by letting you skip commercials. Amazon saves you time by shipping things to you faster. Because our society is obsessed with convenience, the most valuable companies are those that facilitate it.
The problem is that our quest for efficiency often doesn’t serve another purpose—we just want to avoid discomfort. But like the parable of The Magic Thread, skimming past the hard parts of life means missing most of it.
Galloway actually comes back to this idea for the emotional end of his talk:
My biggest fear, and I think about this a lot, is that I’ll be at the end and I’ll look back and think, ‘Oh my god, unbelievable blessings. Staggering prosperity that I didn’t expect. People that I love and that love me immensely. Right? But I was never really there for it. Did my life happen?’ So I leave us with a question, and it’s something I’m asking myself all the time now:
Are you here?
Insight inspired by Scott Galloway. Watch his talk, here. And shout out to the amazing Amanda Boyle for sharing it with me!