The Storyteller Who Changed The World

This is a very helpful video as well. Whether a company is aware of the core values that people think about when interacting with their products or not make the difference between a brand thats sells stuff and the ideals that today just happen to sell this thing, but ultimately, know that the stuff has nothing intrinsic to do with the ideal, and those brands that somehow think their stuff is a replacement for the ideal. We are only buying the stuff today to remind us of the ideal or core value. But tomorrow, we may decide to buy another product or no product at all. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR-ZT8mhfJ4

Given your interest in Steve Jobs' early career and movies, I'd be interested to hear your take on the '99 TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, which I admit I haven't seen. :) One thing that always astounds me is why don't politicians do Big Tech/TED-style speeches. State of the Unions, party convention speeches, speeches in general... it's always just the one guy at a time behind a podium! Whereas we've had the tech to add graphs, photos, and all sort of video goodies for decades. It's just plain weird.

I also miss the old, live Apple keynotes, but I imagine Jobs would be absolutely chuffed to learn their current keynotes are all shot on iPhone. Talk about a demonstration!

Great video!

Your opening line "the world of big tech today is WOEFULLY LACKING in leadership"

This is one of your best videos, excellent evaluation of the power of storytelling through something that most people don’t realize is storytelling. The only other element that you didn’t really touch on, that I kind of wish you had, was his pursuit of excellence and perfection. he had an obsessiveness for detail that made him stand apart from so many other CEOs that I think should have a whole study in itself.

Dunking on Zuckerburg = complete satisfaction with supporting this channel and then some.

Did you and Zuck have a falling-out that you haven't told us about? Like, you knew each other as kids, and he tried (unsuccessfully) to steal your girlfriend?

I just love the trolling. You do it so well. Great video, as usual. Aside from the interesting subject, I often notice the visual elements to your own onscreen storytelling. I know you do a lot on purpose. (✏️.) I kept wondering about your black t-shirt choice. On the one hand, black t-shirt isn’t unusual for you. On the other hand, it felt very much like a choice. But by the end, my brain couldn’t see what you were going for. Maybe a little poking fun at yourself? Maybe a fluke? Maybe I just missed it. Weird for me to fixate on it… I’m more of a book person than a film person but am always learning new things!

Maybe one of these days you can review this kind of story -- and whether or not talking about AI in this manner can help (or hurt?) people who do not have a strong intrinsic interest in "knowing" (or worrying) about AI...? https://www.frogandtoad.ai

Your *story* in this video captures -- without you ever making this explicit -- what I think the nature of all story telling is: making the future (or past) present. It enables the speaker or writer to connect with the audience around a reality that isn't actually there, and transports both speaker and listener to a shared place. If I want to talk about something I wish myself and the audience to experience together, say "world peace," I must have a story (and the telling ability) that allows me to override the skepticism that is in the listener (because the reality I want them to feel just isn't there). And it is kind of funny that, in my estimation, Jobs had the ability to do that in large part because he intuitively understood the source of that skepticism being relational in nature. In the little snippet where he says we would have to vomit in the toilet before the actual interview, I see *that moment* as precisely the kind of tool he and you talk about in "the art of storytelling": by making himself relatable to the interviewer and camera crew (I am just a nervous person who has an idea that you want to learn about, so you don't have anything to fear from me), he then creates this atmosphere from which the listener is willing to step into his longed-for experience of the future together with Jobs. In my own professional career, whenever I have been able to "get people to come along" into my world, I was able to shift the needle, because you need that buy-in... And I suspect you yourself are, in your own way, learning with these video essays (and the response they garner) how to connect with an audience around a better future, in which people generally learn how to tell stories. If we do not master this one skill with one another in the near future, the conflicts that arise from poorly told stories are likely to kill us...

Another outstanding analysis. Bravo! The Zuck chirps are just too good. If you ever stop dunking on Zuck, I am unsubscribing!!

One branch of the Story tree (maybe the trunk?) is the lost art of oral storytelling. I would love to see what you might do on that subject. My father told us stories like that, sometimes even making it up as he went along. It's a rich part of human experience that might be coming to an end after being with us since the beginning.

You know who was great? Rod Serling. Would love to see more about his work as well.