“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”
We go through life assuming that it is a zero-sum game. In order for there to be a winner, there has to be a loser. That is the kind of mentality that describes the exchange of apples. There are only two apples, no matter what you decide to do with them.
However, not everything is a zero-sum affair, as George Bernard Shaw reminds us above. When we share our ideas and we share our knowledge, we all have something to gain. Yes, it is quite possible to get clouded with too many ideas, but that is what leads to societal progress. That is what moves us forward. It is only when we work together that we can accomplish our common goals.
You might remember that F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” It is through the exchange of ideas and the ensuing healthy debate that can oftentimes lead to much better solutions than simply sitting in an echo chamber. That way, we might learn to plant a seed from one of those apples and nurture a new tree, rather than simply argue over who should get the apples.
Perhaps it is because George Bernard Shaw was a playwright and critic–best known for penning Pygmalion–that he best understood this concept. Converting your thoughts into written words, words that can then be read by generations of people all around the world, is the essence of sharing our common human condition. We’re in this together.
While I see the zero sum idea a lot. But, the proper way to think of it if you are really thinking is that they are apple’s and as Bubba would say, there’s apple sauce, apple tarts, apple pie, baked apples, etc. It’s not just 2 apples or 2 oranges or 2 ideas, it a world of possibilities. You make what you want from the ingredients that you are given. If you just have an apple then you didn’t use the ingredients as you could have.
Outside the box folks, outside the box.
This is so well described.
We see it all the time in the tech industry, as people root for the company they support, and cheer whenever anything bad happens to the competitors. I think Jobs said it best when he (although possibly somewhat disingenuously) said “We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose”. And we still see it between iOS and Android, and many other situations today.
I think it’s great when two companies can work together, or at least allow each other to be inspired by their respective advancements.