Behind the Curtain: Control your reality
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
This is the first part of an Axios series on seizing control of your reality. The series will unfold in AM and Finish Line. Please watch our kickoff video above or click here.
Your reality is formed from what you read, see, listen to and experience. It's no longer mostly shaped by the "news."
- The people you follow, the videos you watch, the podcasts you hear, the news you read all shape the world you know.
Why it matters: It feels like you control this. You often don't. The algorithms on your favorite platforms are so fine-tuned that they know you, often better than you do. They respond to what you actually do, not what you think or aspire to.
- They give you more of what you want, not necessarily more of what you need.
You need to seize back control of your brain and reality. In the coming weeks, Axios will provide resources for cleaning your social media feed and finding trusted sources of news and information.
Two things are true at once:
- There's more misinformation, manipulative content and mental garbage available for free than at any point in human history.
- There's also more high-quality, healthy and mind-enhancing content available for free than at any point in human history.
So you face two stark choices: Expand and fortify your mind, or slowly and systematically turn it into manipulated mush.
- It's your choice. Let the algorithms lead your mind to dark or dreary places. Or choose to see the light — and take ownership of your brain and your reality, starting today.
Why this matters to you: It's possible, if not likely, that the biggest threat to future happiness and success is landing on the right side of information inequality. Those who allow their minds to be controlled by algorithms and AI will flounder. Those who exploit the explosion of high-quality content, while filtering out the dumb stuff, will prosper.
It's truly possible to build a more bionic version of your own brain if you choose wisely.
- For the first time ever, all of us have instant, free access to the smartest minds on earth, often unfiltered and in great depth, on podcasts or YouTube videos. The great thinkers of our age, once inaccessible to the masses, are a click away.
- For the first time ever, all of us can learn about the most complex topics, with the most reliable of sources or teachers, in the format of our choosing.
For the first time ever, all of us can use free versions of emerging large language models to sharpen our discovery, our thinking and our writing. We can set up personal and personalized tutorials for free.
- And soon, for the first time ever, those LLMs will be smarter, faster, deeper and more capable than we are. That will dramatically expand your personal abilities, provided you learn to use them smartly.
The big picture: The phone and social media eras showed that most people will choose passive addiction over personal empowerment. In retrospect, we were slow to realize and react to the addictiveness and the consequences of what seems normal and widespread.
- There's no longer any excuse for excuses. We know the consequences of passivity. Only you can choose. The government won't meaningfully regulate the old or new realities. And the big tech companies will no more tame AI now than they did social feeds then.
Each of us can take these four steps:
- Seize control of your brain: That means admitting the costs of our current habits and consumption patterns. Make the hard decision to change.
- Clean your feed: Treat your social feeds like food. You wouldn't ingest poison or mystery meats. Stop following people or accounts you can't validate as real and healthy. Start following those who help you learn more or feel better. Better yet, delete your apps.
- Pick one anchor of broad truth: Find one reputable general news source you believe gets to the closest approximation of the truth on a routine basis. Free sources like Axios or paid ones like The Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times are good places to start. (We'll soon offer a much longer list in Axios Finish Line.)
- Pour in trusted sources: You can easily find smart, useful, trusted guidance on every passion or topic of interest. It doesn't matter if it's cooking, fitness, news or using AI. Think of it this way: Every minute of good content displacing doomscrolling makes you smarter. The opposite is true, too. Don't let yourself get dumber.
The bottom line: If you do these four things, you'll instantly be smarter and more useful than the vast majority of your peers. And you'll more confidently find and navigate reality.
- Let us know what you think: [email protected].
Watch: "Behind the Curtain" video, "Control your reality."
