Humans are incredible at filtering, therefore a solution can float right on by if it isn’t the “right one”. Also solutions to most problems come by as a result of completely unrelated activity. Therefore it is incredibly important to be doing something, anything that isn’t directly destructive to your goals.

I desperately want to watch his 8 hour analysis of Starfield but am scared of the commitment.

You are more than welcome! The chapter is called Unification of Humankind for anyone else interested, here is a little excerpt:

“Myths and fictions accustomed people, nearly from the moment of birth, to think in certain ways, to behave in accordance with certain standards, to want certain things, and to observe certain rules. They thereby created artificial instincts that enabled millions of strangers to cooperate effectively. This network of artificial instincts is called ‘culture’.”

It’s literally Sapiens, the first book. The chapter is called the Unification of Humankind, from the quick look I had online.

Sharing, and believing in, fictions is how distilled units of information are efficiently passed down generations and is one of the bedrocks of our development as a species. This is what allows us to have laws and corporations and agreeing to drive on particular side of the road.

Yuval Noah Harari covers this more eloquently in his book Sapiens. You would definitely dig the relevant chapters.