[on-hold music] It's Quinn. Maybe you're like me, and sometimes you just spiral out, not just because everything is a lot all of the time, but because some part of you actually wants to do something about it. But, I mean, holy shit, where to start, right? Great news. We built an app for that. It's called What Can I Do? Even better news, it's free and it's fast. It takes just three clicks to start unfucking the world. Visit whatcanido.earth to get started for free. [on-hold music] "Tell Cersei.
I want her to know it was me." Olenna Tyrell, in what feels like a thousand fucking years ago. Today, I wanna talk about what's in a name. There are a million legitimate reasons why standing up to bullies may require a pseudonym or a cowl or even anonymity.
As has been clear for centuries, even more so in this moment of inescapable mass surveillance, some of us, by nature of our birth nation, skin color, ethnicity, sex, gender, religious beliefs, and/or who we love, are in far more clear and present danger than someone like me.
And yet, millions of people over decades and centuries have stood in broad daylight and put their names and their bodies, their finite time on this rock, and their resources to the test, on the line, to fight for a better future for themselves and for the generations to come. Most of those have been the folks most marginalized or directly threatened, who had nowhere to hide, who didn't have a choice but to put their name and their face
into the ring, or into the r-arena, as a Republican bro wants to tell you. Meanwhile, wealthy people have hidden behind their names and titles and shit like that for a very long time. Now, that isn't the rule. Some privileged, safer people chose to be allies. They chose activism over silence, too.
But our predecessors imagined and constructed, often in the aftermath of great violence, the institutions that increased peace, childhood life expectancies, knowledge, and more. But it's time for more, much more. More recently, the World Wide Web has provided both a safe haven for anonymous discourse and activism, and also lots and lots of harm from a distance through m-mis and disinformation, or just actively planning genocides and hate crimes on Facebook.
Unfortunately, network effects and monopolies have meant most discourse and organizing, both good and bad, has been consolidated into just a few unfathomably large platforms, all of which are protected, to an extent, by the twenty-six words that made the internet, Section two-thirty. Now, what Section two-thirty is really protecting a platform from is dangerous, but supposedly not quite criminal speech. They're protecting them from being held liable for that, so user-generated content.
So what the hell does that have to do with us here? When we built the underlying social infrastructure of What Can I Do?, our new app, we decided not to allow for almost any user-generated content besides a headshot and a short bio for your profile. One picture, one single text field. The most significant reason we made that choice is because we simply don't have the resources to moderate user-generated content of any kind, much less dangerous or criminal speech, pictures, threats, whatever.
It's the internet. Every open text field is just truly asking for trouble. But also, plenty of other platforms allow you to express yourself in any number of ways and characters. If you wanna do that, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. You get the idea. Best wishes. Like the share plate method I use to feed my young children, virtually everything you can do in the app is something we already chose. All that said, there is one other open field we couldn't eliminate: your name.
So again, what's in a name? Everyone is born with a name. A lot of us earn nicknames or go by our middle names or last names, and sometimes it changes over time. Sometimes it's our choice. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes we change our name. Sometimes we give our kids our own names. Sometimes our kids have different last names than we do, or a hyphen, sometimes not. Some of us have stage names or even legally changed names.
Eventually, though, one way or another, you present yourself in public in the way that feels most comfortable to you, and everything you do gets attached to that name. If we're not complete assholes, some part of our name might get handed down to the generations after us, not even by us. The phrase "make a name for yourself" can mean a lot of things, but what it usually means is to make it mean something to somebody, to history, even if it's just to your family.
After a couple hundred thousand years, a few names have persisted and immortalized for one reason or another, remembered in adulation, fondness, or despised long after our bodies have decomposed back into the soil. As they say, you die two deaths, right? The real one and the one when the last person says your name for the last time. Some names areBoth loved and feared. Some are attached to deeds in drastically opposing ways.
For example, Obamacare. Some cultures have multiple names. Some even have secret names. But for as much as we idolize and put historic figures on pedestals, they'd be nothing without the movements marching and fighting and voting alongside them, their efforts compounded across millions and decades. Again, I am Spartacus wasn't because one guy said it, it was because everybody stood up and said it. And What Can I Do, our app, is, again, it's one tool among many.
And the rest of our work, it's allied with many other tools and stands on the shoulders of so many organizing platforms before it. And this is humbling and freeing. We can only help change the world. It also means, though, that we are freer to have an opinion on how our platform works because there are so many others that complement it, where you can, again, express yourself much more freely or not at all.
Now, our opinion at this point, which is always subject to change, is that What Can I Do has an opportunity to start connecting and aggregating people in real life again, to establish trust again, and that it will only be as effective as it can be if the people who are following and being followed are real people.
So how do we do that? First, we got to cut out the bots, right? So we rely on Stripe to safely verify the identity of everyone who wants to make their profile public, which is a choice you can totally make on your own. You can unfuck the world in private and search for free as long as you want, truly. But either way, you're a real human. The other part of that is we ask you to pay.
You get 30 days free, but then you actually have to put up a credit card for either $2 a month or 20 bucks a year. And that really does help cut down on the cruft, as they say. But second, if you make your profile public, again, totally your choice, we ask that you share your name, which is complicated. For many people, the name you use most often in public is a close match to your given name, with endless variations on the margin.
Now we, mostly Conor, initially coded the name field to ensure you used one of these marginal variations of your verified name in your profile. It was a fucking nightmare. In addition, though, this regulation of ours ignored the many people who use an entirely different name for whatever reason, but especially those folks who do so to protect themselves. Now, again, we have very few resources here. We aren't Bumble or Instagram, but we also aren't Discord, which is great.
It's very important to us, and we think to rebuilding trust and compound action, that someone who takes an action on our platform and inspires you to follow them is who they say they are, and vice versa. You've got to earn that trust as well. So here's what we've settled on. We created a field called Display Name, and we want you to use the name you use most in public, as defined by you. There's no other strings attached aside from the handy-dandy filter that, you know, checks for bad words.
Use the name you're known for that you've already chosen and established for yourself, whether you're a young student, a scientist, a senator, or the CEO of Partners in Health, whatever. Understand, though, when you get verified by Stripe, confirming you're not a bot, put up your credit card, and then put your most well-known name out there on What Can I Do. You are asking for trust from our community.
There's a great quote from my friend Leo Babauta that says, "Could you trust yourself to practice trust?" Now look, again, share plate. It's all part of the plan. What Can I Do doesn't really offer any opportunities to do bad shit. Picture your bio and your name. It's very important that you don't ask for trust unless you want to earn and are prepared to carry the burden of
more of it. Here's what that means in practice. We don't and so far can't track any of the actions you take. So instead, we actually just straight up ask you if you did it or not. If you click yes, we add it to your action history for your reference and for everyone else who follows you. We also use it to intelligently nudge you to take related actions to help us throw the kitchen sink at whatever problem. But we also ask you as a test because we want to trust you.
We ask you if you took the action because we trust that by attaching your name to it, you'll answer honestly. That if all the people who took the time to follow you asked you if and why you did it and how you did it, that you'll actually have an honest answer you're proud of. So every single one of those after-action little pop-up questions and every one of your What Can I Do followers isn't for your vanity. It's an intentional step-by-step renovation of shared trust.
We're in a movement when it's clear we can't just say, "I'm one of the good guys," and throw a black square on our Instagram and call it a day. We all have to go well beyond silence, beyond neutrality, and every action in our app is designed to help you do that and for all of us to aggregate together to make every action even more powerful. Because we judge ourselves by our intentions, right? But we judge others by their actions. But it's time we measured up and put our names on the line.
Because when we do, even more people will, and so on and so on, and then we're unstoppable.Hello, hello, Malcolm Gladwell here on this season of Revisionist History. We're going where no podcast has ever gone before in combination with my three-year-old, we defend the show that everyone else hates. I'm talking, of course, about Paw Patrol.
There's some things that really piss me off when it comes to Paw Patrol. It's pretty simple. It sucks. My son watches Paw Patrol. I hate it. Everyone hates it except for me. Plus, we investigate everything from why American sirens are so unbearably loud to the impact of face blindness on social connection to the secret behind Thomas's English muffins, perfect nooks and crannies.
And also, we go after Joe Rogan. Are you ready, Joe? I'm coming for you. You won't want to miss it. Listen to Revisionist History wherever you get your podcasts. Now, Connor hates it when I call what can I do a search engine. I imagine he'd also hate it if I called it a social network, both of which are fair. He built it, whatever. And really, it's neither one.
Our search isn't open world. It is painstakingly populated by hand. And as described above, our social mechanisms are intentionally limited in both flexibility and utility. But they're also much more intentional than just search or get followers. The entire point of populating our database with measurable actions, the entire point of following someone on what can I do and of encouraging real people to follow you is to combine forces in real life to unfuck the world, to beat bad guys.
Now, there's much more to come there, but we really can't afford to do superfluous bullshit. Because of our bootstrapped resources and long-term theory of compound action, we laid foundation very early that we haven't even begun to build on yet but couldn't afford to strap on later. That said, we've been adding more intentional connective tissue to the app, which is coming soon.
And right now, what we're excited and honored to do is give you the ability to share your name, to use our app to make something even more of your name, to associate yourself with actions designed to unfuck the world and to fight bad guys for as many people as possible in a moment when people are genuinely scared to do exactly this.
What I'm asking you to do is this. I'm asking you to say, "This is who I am. This action history is who I am." And then I want you to leave a breadcrumb trail of your most measurable deeds for others to follow. And that's all you can do in our app. A bio, a picture, and a name. No other words, just action. So my question is, will you say, "This is who I am," and let your actions speak even louder than your words?
Now, normally in these essays, I'll sprinkle a bunch of quotes throughout the post from whatever, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, comedy, it doesn't matter, philosophers, to break things up, to make a point, whatever. But today I've got a bunch at the end. And what I want you to do is listen to them slowly, thoughtfully, rewind, whatever you want. I want you to listen to them in the context of what we've talked about here.
When you hear the word you or me or I or our or we, imagine the power and stakes of attaching your specific name to such an action as described, however philosophical. Associate the quotes with yourself. Imagine the author is talking to you, to us together specifically. They're calling you out, calling us out, asking us whether we, not the world, your name and my name are up to the task they're calling for.
Imagine it is a beloved teacher or coach or boss or mentor saying or writing this to you specifically. Imagine them knowing you read it. Imagine you knowing they know you read it and now you can't fucking escape their expectations because you have been called upon. Will you respond? Okay, here's the first one. And again, focus on the I, me, our, you.
Associate it with yourself. Imagine someone is saying this to you in a movie, whatever, in a private meeting, whatever it needs to be. Once it's said, you can't unhear it and someone else knows it has been said to you. First one's from Emily Johnston and we use this one a lot. "Our job is not to feel hope. That's optional. Our job is to be hope and to make space for the chance of a different future."
Again, imagine her saying that to you one-on-one. Second one from Sinead O'Connor. "They tried to bury me. They didn't realize I was a seed." Third one. "What happens when we have eroded trust in media, government, and experts? If you don't trust me and I don't trust you, how do we respond to pandemics or climate change or have fair and open elections?
This is how authoritarianism arises when you erode trust in institutions." That's from Hany Farid. Next one. "In becoming forcibly and essentially aware of my mortality, what I most regretted were my silences. My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you." That's from Mary Shelley. Next one. "Not through me." Now, I don't totally know who that's by. I think the subway people said that when they were protecting Spider-Man in Spider-Man
1 or 2, but also a lot of other people who just fucking refuse to be vectors for viruses or mis- or disinformation.Or rest are disinformation about viruses. They're like, "No, I'm not gonna keep this going." You don't get what you don't fight for. That's Elizabeth Warren. You don't get what you don't fight for. Really wish your city council would pass those bike lanes?
When was the last time you showed up at a city council meeting? Next one by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. To sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards out of men. Next one, a change here. We don't give the public enough opportunities to see and trust warm bodies in public health. Messages must be delivered by real people, preferably the same people, in a style that feels human.
And that's by Catalin Jadoulina, who's a wonderful blogger online. Here's another slightly different one. The LIGO scientific collaboration involves hundreds of people, many of whom have never met. They use tools and knowledge contributed by thousands of others, who in turn rely on the tools and knowledge of millions of others. Such organization doesn't happen by chance.
It requires sophisticated technical and social systems working hand in hand. Trust feeds evidence, feeds trust, and so on. And the same holds true for society at large. If we undermine our self-reinforcing systems of evidence and trust, our ability to know anything and do anything will break down. And that's by Matthew Hudson. Pivoting back here, a favorite, pretty timely and timeless.
From Eli Wiesel, always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Can imagine him saying this to you, other people seeing that you heard it, that it was said to you. What do you do with that? Next one. Candor is our simple yet profound commitment to reveal and not conceal.
Our commitment is to reveal our stories, holding them lightly and expressing them lovingly. At any moment, we are either choosing to reveal or to conceal. When we choose revealing, we're choosing trust. When we choose concealing, we're choosing control. Trust is rooted in love and control is rooted in fear. We believe love-based organizations win over fear-based organizations.
And that's by the wonderful Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kelly Clipp. I don't remember where this one's from. Act as if your decisions have moral consequence. That's the kind of thing, again, an organizer, a mentor, someone says to you, and it's very difficult to walk away from that, to see them in the hall again and know that has been passed to you. And you can either choose to do something with it or not.
Next one, from one of my favorite writers right now. Consumer trust is not necessarily based on the quality of reporting or the prestige and history of the brand, but on strong parasocial relationships. Charlie Warzel. By one of my favorite authors. Never trust any ruler who puts his faith in tunnels and bunkers and escape routes. The chances are that his heart isn't in the job. Terry Pratchett. Next one. We're almost done here.
The secret of happiness is find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it. And that's Daniel Dennett. Late Daniel Dennett. A favorite. You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours closer than you keep it yourself.
But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo. Anyway, there it is. We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a good deal about the ring. We are horribly afraid we were coming with you or following you like hounds. By J.R.R. Tolkien. Another one. Don't know the origin of. I love. Don't you want to know what you're capable of?
And you can phrase that a bunch of different ways. Obviously, we're focusing on the personal part, but you could say, don't you want to know what you're capable of? You could say, don't you want to know what you're capable of? The point is, it's not what someone else is capable of. It's what you specifically, your name,
your hands, your voice, your skills, your resources, your instrument, your paintbrush are capable of. And last one, because again, this is a community of people who give a shit for a million different reasons. We're trying to build trust here. From Tennyson. I am a part of all that I have met. That's it. Have a good one.