Confession, I am A Fraud...
Confession, I am A Fraud...
and it's time to confess.
I am Cammi Pham, and I am a fraud.
I thought about confessing. I got scared.
But I cannot hide this anymore.
Today, I have to tell you the truth.
Nothing, I do is original.
I am a fraud.
I steal ideas. I steal knowledge, and I make them mine.
People give me credit, and I do nothing to change their minds.
I am a fraud, and I am proud of it.
The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, but it is the best.
YouTube wasn't the first video sharing site, but it is the biggest.
Facebook wasn't the first social network, but it is still one of the most popular ones.
Google wasn't the first search engine. Now googling is a verb.
All the biggest innovations were built on top of other ideas.
Nothing is original. They are all improved versions.
Why do we tell everyone to be original, and thereby kill their creativity?
Children learn by copying. They don't try to be original.
That is how children learn to crawl, walk, run and talk.
They copy others, and they are more creative than any of us.
As we grow older, everyone tells us to be original. They say that is the right thing to do. Copying is bad. In school, you get punished for copying.
We lock ourselves in the "be original" box. We forget how to think like children.
We try to be original. We fail and give up. We end up being the broken copied versions.
Nobody told us, it is okay to copy, because everyone tries to be original.
But nothing is original.
We need to turn back time, and think like when we were children. We need to be so good at copying ideas and then grow out of them. In the end, we will find a way to make them even better. Don't try to be original, be the improved copied version.
I was born an original, aspiring to die an improved copy.
In a world obsessed with originality, I dare to embrace the power of copying.
I am a fraud, and I am proud of it.
More To Unlearn
Future Shock: Are You Unknowingly Participating in Tomorrow's Scandals?
The Modern School System: The Biggest Lie We've All Been Sold
If You Want to Be Successful, Learn How to Steal
You are my favorite fraud. 👍
I feel like in always trying to explain how, almost everything we do in life is essentially derivative of something else. Originality is subjective.