A friend recommended that I read Packy McCormick's The Return of Magic yesterday.

After reading, I texted her saying, "Packy sounds like the main character in a matrix remake trying to tell the world we’re in a simulation." If you read it, you'll probably get similar vibes. It's not a very skimmable piece, but it's extremely fun to read with suspended disbelief.

I won't summarize the post, so go read it if you haven't already. But one of the points I resonated with was his idea of a collective consciousness.

Maybe the most famous example is the Roger Bannister 4 minute mile story. It was a time people previously thought to be impossible even by top runners. However, once he broke it, a slew of other top runners soon broke it too. It's like there was an invisible wall there, and once he broke the wall, other people could easily walk through.

I have many personal anecdotes as well.

One notable one is this idea of "having the same childhood" that's been making the rounds on TikTok/Reels. For example, I thought I was the only one who would make potions out of household items, but I guess that's a universal experience.

So maybe Packy's right. Our epiphanies or imaginations are inextricably linked into a collective consciousness, waiting for someone to make a new connection so that the rest of us can follow suit. As Issac Newton said, we are all "standing on the shoulders of giants."

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Find more of my thoughts on Twitter (@ethanweii).