Hands all holding light bulbs coming together
By Peter Schulte profile image Peter Schulte
2 min read

Memes

Many of my mental models are those shared with others. Together, they form what we call “culture.”

❤️‍🔥
Below is a chapter from my upcoming book Humanity Is Beautiful: A New Story For A World On Fire. Paying members can follow along and watch the book emerge and evolve as I write it. View the Table of Contents of this "living draft" here.

I have a mental model of my bedroom that no one else in the world has. No one has as intimate knowledge of what my room looks like or what’s in it apart from my wife. This is a personal mental model that I’ve developed for myself. I have other personal mental models for my purpose in life, my life story, my relationship with my cat, and on and on.

But many, perhaps even most, of my mental models are those largely shared with others: my notions of the legal system, money, and human rights and my belief that the world is round. These are all concepts or beliefs that human cultures have developed collectively and agreed to live by together. I didn’t create them. They were given to me and billions of others as a child or through various media.

By Peter Schulte profile image Peter Schulte
Updated on
Humanity Is Beautiful