Narrative is our most powerful technology.

Without it, humans are reduced to only acting individually — never collectively. The sum impact of our species would never surpass the sum impact of one individual human: what someone could learn and create during the span of their lifetime. Science would not exist. Nations would not be formed. When a pandemic swept through our population we wouldn’t come together in a global collective effort to fight the virus, and we couldn’t even imagine a future where that was possible.

Somehow, the more we learn what narrative can do, the more mystical it sounds, and we talk about “the power of storytelling” as though storytellers practice a magic you’re either born with — or not.

But that’s not true.

Narrative is how you already think and communicate. You already use narrative, even though no-one taught you; you simply were born this way. It’s how we cope in a world with so much information, so many choices to make, and so much uncertainty. It’s our real life superpower.

Narrative isn’t a weapon for wielding against opponents, it’s a tool for collaboration. Narrative isn’t for persuasion, it’s for connection — by seeing the world through multiple points of view. Narrative isn’t for right or wrong, it’s for a multitude of possibilities.

Narrative is what enables humans — and only humans — to create change.

Our future as a species is clear: the only path forward is one of collaboration and collective effort. We have what we need: an innate ability to organize and communicate information in a way that enables masses of humans to act collectively. What remains: a deepened awareness of the stories we tell and whether — or not — we are using them to build a future that brings us together.

If we do, it will be the greatest achievement of humankind.