Steven Volpp

I Hear Dead People.

In a world filled with so much noise, what can we hear?  Information is flying at us at an unprecedented rate.  Social media influencers know that in order to stay relevant, not only do they have to post every day, they have to post multiple times per day.  But do they have a single helpful thought?  We have long been in a 24-hour news cycle that requires the latest panic of the moment to create a dramatic headline.  But with these writers and creators under constant pressure to churn content, does it ever produce any useful content that has ever helped us or produced any learning?

Have all of the billions of combined social media posts ever produced a single line of thought that we will be reading ten years from now?  How about even 10 days from now?

AI has changed the meaning of truth.  We may need a new word that means what truth used to mean, but we probably should not ask AI to do that for us.

One thing we do know to be true is that back before social media and TV news, many smart people lived, and some of what they said has proven to be true for over 100 years.

Sometimes when all I can hear is the noise of the current day, I choose to hear the clarity of dead people.

Dead people have said some great things, and sometimes hearing those dead people can give us more practical advice than a city full of AI data centers.  Here are some thoughts that dead people have said that often help me.  I hope they will be helpful to you too.

Dorothy Parker

"If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.”

Joseph de Maistre

"Every nation gets the government it deserves."

Bertrand Russell

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.”

Oscar Wilde

"Many lack the originality to lack originality."

George Bernard Shaw

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

H.L. Mencken

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

Albert Camus

"Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”

Gore Vidal

"Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.”

Hunter S. Thompson

"The Edge... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.”

George Carlin

"I have as much authority as the Pope. I just don’t have as many people who believe it.”

Albert Einstein 

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, but imagination encircles the world."

Frank Zappa

"Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST.”

Neil Peart

"And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start  - To mold a new reality, closer to the heart."