The Most Important Invention Of The Modern Era...

an old note that's still messing with me

Author

Matt Zeigler
February 27, 2025

This quote randomly resurfaces in my notes and messes with me. It claims marketing is the most important invention of the modern era and… I think it’s right. The positioning of stories might literally be the biggest story in and of itself.

Marketing is the most important invention of the past two millennia because it is the only revolution that has ever succeeded in bringing real economic power to the people. It is not just the power to redistribute wealth, to split the social cake into different pieces. Rather, it is the power to make our means of production transform the natural world into a playground for human passions.

Geoffrey Miller, Spent

At face value this might seem too… in the clouds. Too philosophical. I thought the same way, but then I work through it backwards.

I know what human passions are. I know the times in my life I’ve denied them (“keep your head down, try to climb that corporate ladder”), and I know the times in my life I’ve been totally caught up in the romance of them (“maybe this idea could be the next big thing, because I think we’re onto something”).

My entire life is already divisible as subsets of micro stories. Why wouldn’t everyone else’s life be similar? Why wouldn’t the most macro stories be big old piles of this idea at the “in the clouds” level?

A story can build a massive culture.

A story can bring down a massive culture.

A story can consolidate money into the hands of those are already have everything.

A story can put money into the hands of those who have none.

A story can unite the masses.

A story can divide the masses.

All stories, at their core, play with human passions. The best stories, redirect them somewhere we want to go. Once you see how story applies to everything, Miller's claim isn't just bold—it's inescapable. And that's why I freeze every time I stumble across this quote in my notes. I'm not just reading about marketing, I'm reading about the operating system of modern existence.

(if you’ve never read Spent, the first few chapters really are an incredible perspective on the connections between evolutionary biology, psychology, and we humans as storytelling animals. The book does go a bit awry from there, but the beginning - totally worth it)