How do you change the world?

Recently, I was having a discussion with my fiancee about a really interesting article on Medium by Brett Barry called, Why 5 x 3 = 5 + 5 +…

Recently, I was having a discussion with my fiancee about a really interesting article on Medium by Brett Barry called, Why 5 x 3 = 5 + 5 + 5 Was Marked Wrong. In true form to myself, I was able to turn a topic we both agreed on into a debate.

Though we both agreed with Brett’s thesis, the discussion took an argumentative turn. We started debating the merits of frustration with commenters on the internet, particularly with people who disagreed with ones own thinking. I myself, a person familiar with the depths of internet commenting, feel I have a handle on holding back the urges of table flipping in anger at some of the comments coming out against things I believe in and reminding myself that every one has an opinion.

My fiancee also has the ability to hold back from initiating verbal lashings, so common to internet comments, but she has a much more difficult time letting go of the frustrations the comments evoke. More often than not, I attribute this to her markedly higher level of intellect and chalk it up to the feelings of Mr. Hemingway,

Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

So what does this have to do with changing the world? Well, now that the conversation had turned from mutual admiration over the thinking in Brett’s article to the tumultuous land of internet commenters, we’d stumbled down a path with no way back. The topic had become changing people’s opinions.

We started discussing the merits of various strategies for changing others opinions. I was of the belief, if she felt so strongly she was correct on the matter, then the best thing to do is turn that frustration into organizing a group or lobby promoting the reasons and values behind their mission.

She believed that getting together with a group of like-minded people would not be a force for change. That groups didn’t force change and that it required one-on-one discussions to make the changes.

Our passions collided and luckily for me, she was meeting her sister, and I could write this article. But it definitely got me thinking, “how do you change the world?”

There have always been talks about the power of one person. Throughout history, we have attributed individuals with changing the world. Ghandi, Steve Jobs, Malala Yousafzai have all had an impact on the world. How you feel about them or their accomplishments is subjective, but objectively it’s easy to argue that their names are associated with change.

So to this point, I concede, these individuals, through their beliefs and opinions, were able to talk to the people and become a force of lasting change.

But for me, the success of their impact came from banding together with other like-minded people. They went from a single voice to a voice of many. There ability to change the world stemmed from their ability to take a small group of individuals who believed in what they had to say and grow until it was large enough to make change.

A single pebble being dropped into a river can create waves, but a large enough group of pebbles can change the course of the river forever.

The individual actions are needed as a catalyst, but they become more valuable when combined in a single effort by a group. A group also has the ability to build on itself without additional action by any specific individual. In going back to my river analogy, once you’ve dammed up the river, additional pebbles will get swept into your group, just by having it there.

Before the internet, it could be argued that changing the world needed a strong leader, but even that is becoming less important. The use of social media in uprising has given credence to the notion of the leaderless group. Anonymous imparts change without ever having a known leader. The Arab Spring movement is not attributed to an individual but different groups of people connecting.

Changing the world requires a belief. A belief in what you want to change and a belief that you can make the change. To me, the latter becomes more plausible with every connection that is made. I guess will see if my opinion is correct by the reception of this article. Are you a believer in the power of groups?