Exploring High Agency: How One Idea Changed the Way We View the World

What idea changed how you view the world?

Here's mine: High Agency.

The 12 best examples: pic.twitter.com/qPjjh4KytE

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

The best example of high agency:

The guy in this video.

Watch how the low-agency crowd goes from judgmental to joining in, once everyone else deems it acceptable. pic.twitter.com/KqZXrcKHTj

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

What is high agency?@EricRWeinstein was the first person I heard about it from.

It's one of those ideas that once you see it, you can't unsee it. pic.twitter.com/Gh7xJLFDHe

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

High agency is the following 3 things merged into one mega trait:

1. Resourcefulness
2. Skepticism towards "best practices"
3. Locus of control

E.g. The Wright Brothers pic.twitter.com/xh12p5CPld

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

Josh Waitzkin argues that "Good weather" and "Bad weather" is one of the first low agency conditioning mechanisms.

Most parents - "It's bad weather. We can't go outside"

Josh Waitzkin - "It's a beautiful rainy day. Let's go outside"

Josh uses the weather to teach agency. pic.twitter.com/iAOO57anNR

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

The best question I've seen for identifying the highest agency person you know:

• If I was stuck in a 3rd world prison and had to call someone to get me out, who would I call?

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

Here's a list of common traits high agency people tend to have: pic.twitter.com/2vImN7aySL

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

Here's an example of mass low agency:

We put a man on the moon before we put wheels on luggage

Everyone accepted suitcases without wheels as the best practice - because everyone else did

The greatest minds of their generation used to carry their suitcases until the 1970s pic.twitter.com/tE9lgB1qE6

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

One thought experiment to guarantee a sleepless night:

"What is the suitcase without wheels in 2023?"

What is the stupid idea society passively accepts because everyone else in society does it?

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

Dick Fosbury is an iconic example of High agency.

He was an average high jumper that won a gold medal by changing the rules of the game.

He was mocked before the games for looking like a camel. Now his method is the universal way of doing the high jump. pic.twitter.com/7lnms2wdL3

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

Hiroji Satoh was the worst player on the Japanese table tennis team. He then became the world champion

How? Adding foam to his bat changed the ball's trajectory

The low-agency crowd will mock the high-agency individual but ultimately joins once the crowd deems it acceptable pic.twitter.com/146r2LB6KJ

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

The High-agency individual can outperform bureaucratic low-agency organizations.

A solo IRS inspector beat the FBI and CIA to find the founder of Silk Road (Dark web site) with...

*Google Search*. pic.twitter.com/JE8oDbEijh

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023

The most underrated high agency example is Vrba & Wetzler.

1. Escaped Auschwitz.
2. Walked 80 miles in stolen suits.
3. Carried the first-ever report on the gas chambers.

They reportedly saved *200,000* people from dying in the Holocaust.

This should be a Hollywood blockbuster pic.twitter.com/FlOKdhf50T

— George Mack (@george__mack) April 1, 2023