Network over Country

We are often raised to root for countries, to wrap ourselves in flags and pledge our patriotism as a reason to die or to kill for. But when we look around, we see webs of friends and relations, we see sprawling online networks and boundless borders. So, we have to ask how much of life is about network rather than country. Is it network over country?

It's a topic we decided to scour to the core, purporting to unpack this uncomfortable question that might very well open doors to more profound success and understandings. 

When you hear the phrase network over country – what comes to mind? In a human being's life, what affects you the most, the country you were born in, or the network you are a part of? What do those words mean? 

"Network is the people you know, and through the people you know the messages you've been exposed to. Which defines the way you look at other human beings and the way you look at the world," William explained. "It's your role models somehow. Or the people you go to, even without realizing it, just to make sense of when things are not making sense in your life."

In articulating our immediate responses to this notion, we are then propelled to go further.

"The more I think of that, the more it becomes clearer. I think if everybody looks at their own life, I would say that the network is more important than the country," William surmised, explaining how one of his entrepreneur friends who was based in New York City moved his entire family to the California tech-hub of Silicon Valley. Because even within one country, let's say that the difference between you and someone else will be your network. The reason William’s friend moved "It was just to be part of that network. …even though by going back and forth he made friends, but to actually really build that level of trust, … To actually make his company grow, he needs to be there. He needs to have real estate there."

In a sense, our success can so often come down to how strong is our link to the right network, or in other words: the right commitments. 

"A network can help you figure out things you're not figuring out yourself. And it's like a loop because it's each person helping the other," William went on. "So when you value that type of relationship you end up like moving your physical body to that place so you can spend more time with those people that have the same questions that you have or have the same … energy to build the type of things that you're looking at."

And as Hollie illuminated, we have a tribal instinct buried deep inside from those who came before us – whether we seek to acknowledge it or not. 

It's tribal instinct.

"Ingrained in us all as human beings through evolution, we still have the tribal instinct of our ancestors. And I think a huge part of the problem in society today is losing that, losing the outlet for that," Hollie said. "And a lot of the time subconsciously we search for that. It's also why people join gangs or terrorist organizations, or it's that longing to become a community." That longing for connections.

But for better or worse, networks – whether criminal or close-knit Church groups – seem to have the power to make sense of the things within us that did not make sense before or that we cannot make sense of. We realize we cannot do it alone, and that we must be part of a collective to make it through to the other side. 

"And as I transit through life, this is very personal for me… I understood that it's the people you meet that can make a huge shift in what your life is about. And I'm not thinking [only] in terms of success, just even accepting [more] where you are, which is called wisdom," William continued. "Which is accepting life for what it is. That has absolutely nothing to do with the country you were born in. It has to do more with the people you met in your life, to help you understand how to deal with that."

Once one is part of a network, then perhaps it doesn't matter where you live. But at the beginning, you need to be meeting different people, battling to understand those different angles of life, and understand how to be part of something, William conjectured. How to behave in a way that contributes to most.

But the discussion on networks does come with a jarring reality. The playing field isn't always fair. As Hollie pointed out, brilliant people exist on all edges of the earth. But for many in war-torn and impoverished pockets of the planet, the vast majority simply does not have the chance for their work to infiltrate a network that can elevate it to where it ought to be. 

"I meet brilliant people, people that have an incredible work ethic. They just, they don't have the opportunity. There's no way out for them. And it is heartbreaking, and it's a shame. But it is the way the world works. It's not a fair place," she noted. "But even in the microcosm that is the United States too much of it has to do with your zip code. Where you are going to go to school, what education you're going to end up with, has to do with what part of the zoning of the town that you happen to live in."

Subsequently, William raised the notion of whether it is more important to have a good network than a good net-worth, or if the two rely upon one another to thrive. 

"I understand that the most important asset is human creativity. For me, that is the most important asset," he said. "It's because everything else we see is just an expression of that. And I think the biggest risk for humanity is having people with incredible talent but [are] not being able to be part of the right network so we can all profit from [the contributions of] that talent."

Yet on the precipice of all things personal, is the importance of family as a network – a construct we have let languish lately in modern society. 

"When I work in war-torn places rather it's in Afghanistan or Iraq or something there's this sort of unquestionable community and network," she explained. "Finding food is difficult if you're if you're struggling [financially], but people just share. It doesn't matter If you have five kids or ten kids, the gift is in sharing." 

In the final stretch of the conversation, the topic shifts into the network of networks that dominates almost all our lives on almost all fronts: the internet. From William's lens, people are misled into thinking the internet is neutral. 

"The internet is not neutral. When I ask a question, when I use any search engine, there is an algorithm that decides how to present to me the information. So, usually, when I ask a question, the answer is: this is what everyone else is thinking," he contended. "Or if I use another platform, I ask a question; the answer will say this is what your friends are thinking. This is the answer. Yeah, but if I have the wrong friends, they're all taking the wrong answer for the problem I have in front of me right now. Because we can't deal with it, so I don't get to the answer."

This is just the tipping point of the types of noises we have to deal with every day in our lives when looking for answers. This is where the right network matters, to help us move faster and struggle less when having to deal with our limitations.

"Technology used with purpose [as a solution] to connect networks is what will create the unexpected in a positive way. Because you understand that what you need is each human being to express themselves to the fullest," William observed. "If each human being expresses themselves to the fullest, the network becomes more powerful because I have fewer copycats. So, each individual becomes a real contributor. And the algorithms are more able to find that unique contributor and match it to the real problem that we need to solve one by one."

Perhaps our infinite powers as regular humans plowing the earth, at least for now, lies in human creativity and how much good we can do to anyone's life, just by helping them find an answer.

"By a simple smile and then just support," Hollie added. "Some support, we need to know that we're on the right track, and that's it." Let’s support each other, let’s support each node. That’s the essence of networks.   

The conversation

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