2 Stories for Inspiration

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I love people. I believe in people—especially in those as talented and unconventional as the ones in the startup industry. Unfortunately, some of you are experiencing fear and discouragement because you’re worried that AI will replace you. Today, I won’t discuss whether this thesis is true or false. Instead, I’ll tell you two stories. They are meant to spark your imagination and boost your motivation. I hope I achieve that :)

Before I tell these two stories, I want to explain what emotions are, why evolution preserved them, and why they can get in our way. Emotions are a tool for rapid response. When our ancestors were in the jungle and saw something moving in the bushes, the winning strategy was to assume it was a predator and run away. Even if you were wrong, it wasn’t a big deal since your life was at stake. But we are no longer in the jungle, and emotions still affect us in the same way. That’s why, before making any decision, you should first calm down. This is especially important when large companies with massive advertising budgets are putting significant effort into emotionally influencing you so that you buy their product.

You cannot come up with a great solution when you are afraid or demotivated. You can do it when you are inspired, when you have energy, when you are in flow, when you are surrounded by like-minded people. I hope the two short stories below will help put you into a productive state and activate your imagination. Ultimately, you will create something great. If you do, share it in the comments. I would truly appreciate hearing about it. Let’s go!

Story 1

I love science fiction. Once, I read The Three-Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin. While I have mixed feelings about the trilogy as a whole, one particular moment deeply inspired me. I want to share it with you now.

For those who haven’t read it, here’s the plot. An alien race, the Trisolarans, wants to conquer Earth and destroy humanity, but their fleet will take 500 years to arrive. To halt human progress, they send sophons—nanorobots that interfere with all measurement devices. As a result, humanity can no longer advance science and must face a technologically superior civilization using only the physics knowledge it had at the beginning of the 21st century. One of the sophons even displays the message “You are bugs” on every screen on the planet to demonstrate humanity’s insignificance and instill fear.

Two scientists fall into despair when they learn this. They realize they won’t be able to discover anything new and decide to give up prematurely. A detective who is with them at that moment notices their defeatist attitude, puts them in a car, and takes them to the countryside. There, he shows them a field where swarms of locusts are devouring crops. He then points out that humanity is far more technologically advanced than locusts—and yet, despite all our technology, we still haven’t eradicated them. There’s no reason to lose hope ahead of time. The scientists eventually realize that even within existing technological constraints, a lot can still be achieved. What follows is quite epic. In short, the Trisolarans do not conquer Earth, and humanity survives.

Takeaways: The technological advantage of the Trisolarans was far greater than what AI will have over humans in the next 20 years. Don’t underestimate the capabilities of humans. You just need to recognize your strengths and use them.

Story 2

I’m a big fan of Steve Jobs, although I have mixed feelings about his personal qualities. In one of the books, I came across an inspiring story from his life.

One of his employees came to him and said he had developed an algorithm to quickly render a circle on a screen. Steve replied that while it was impressive, it would be far more useful to figure out how to draw a rectangle with rounded corners. The employee was surprised and asked why that mattered. Steve then took him for a walk and pointed out 17 examples of such shapes in real life. The employee finally said, “Alright, Steve, you’ve convinced me.” Eventually, he developed the needed algorithm.

Takeaway: Even if we don’t know how to solve a complex problem right away, we can figure it out if our motivation is strong enough. When people ask me whether I can solve a particular problem, I say yes. When they ask whether I know how to solve it, I say I have no idea. But I am a physicist. I’ve had to work through Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum physics. I’ll manage to solve your problem somehow.

In conclusion, here’s one more thought. I’m a big fan of Isaac Asimov. Like him, I love robots and want them to become part of our everyday lives. I also want to believe they will be our assistants, not our overlords—unlike in The Terminator or The Matrix. But here’s an interesting point: Asimov spent his life writing about the Galactic Empire and robots. Although, at an early stage in his universe, the Spacer civilizations who relied heavily on robots, were more advanced, it was ultimately the descendants of Earth—those who relied on human intelligence enhanced by AI and robotics—who settled the galaxy and built the empire. Asimov thought about this his entire life and arrived at that conclusion. I don’t think that’s a coincidence :)

Good luck and don’t give up so quickly!