Who am I?

I don’t know.

But I do know that if I look deeeep inside myself, I see one (and only one) thing: 

Ide jöhet egy kép, ahol a cím: “Ideas” és az ötletek (pl.: kereszt, félhold & csillag, sarló és kalapács, horogkereszt, pénz, stb.) dróton rángatják az embereket, akik meg akarják ölni egymást.

How can a “lifeless” thought:

  • Spread like a virus?
  • Control a human being?
  • Become immortal, like a god?

For example: the idea of “terrorism”.

  1. First, it infects the human brain
  2. Then the brain persuades its own human being to kill itself (and others with it)
  3. And the idea spread from generation to generation — to start all over again

Seriously, how?

It’s fucking important, because if we know the answer, we can:

Create “gods” who help people and spread like viruses.

My mission statement.

In different words:

We can teach people how to craft & sell ideas that build (instead of destroying).

Ide jöhet egy kép, ahol a cím: “Ideas” és az ötleteket (pl.: tűz, kerék, villanyégő, holdraszállás, gutenberg-nyomtató, peace-jel vagy egy szív, stb.) dróton rángatják az emberek (tehát már az emberek irányítanak) és az emberek boldogok, a kép ugyanaz, de a hangulata ezerszer jobb (pl.: előző szín piros, mint a pokol, utóbbi kék, mint a menny).

Now, I only see one (and only one) thing.

But it was not always so…

Who was I?

Let me show you the power of ideas.

This tweet is a masterclass on how an idea goes viral:

  • Millions of readers
  • Hundreds of thousands of likes
  • Over a hundred thousand shares

… with less than 100 sentences.

It became legendary in the business world.

But the strange thing is: inside it, you can find my exact career.

Step I: Microeconomics

I started going to high school for economics… in 2008.

In the year of the global economic crisis.

The Great Recession.

… with a family who had just taken out a foreign currency loan the previous year.

What can I say? They were instructive years.

Step II: Game theory

It sucked, because I wanted to go to university.

… which required money. A lot.

What did teenagers in my school — who needed money — do?

Gambling.

What did a teenager — who needed money — do when he saw other teenagers losing their money in casinos?

Learned how to make money from gamblers.

  • Imperfect information
  • Emotion management
  • Nash equilibrium
  • Mind reading
  • Numbers

Oh yes, my saviour — the beautiful, dangerous world of poker.

Step III: Mathematics and Computers

Fast forward a few months, I earned the money for university.

I started to study computer science.

A perfect mix of my maths skills (poker) and my passion (internet).

The result?

Dropout.

Step IV: Ethics

After that (and a physical, psychological and medical test later), I got accepted as a detective.

Just a small, tiny career change, right?

But “maybe this is what I need to find myself”, I thought.

Like when Michael Jordan left basketball and went to play baseball when his father died.

The result?

Dropout, again.

Step V: Psychology

Finally, I found my place.

Almost.

I studied psychology.

Seriously loved it, until I run into a problem: psychologists are too theoretical. 

My teachers knew what “principles” controls human — but they couldn’t use them.

So I turned to the practice.

Step VI: Persuasion

I arrived at the best time — the rise of social media.

… what I hated with all my heart.

So I chose the most important algorithm(s) in the world: Google! 

I became an SEO expert. 

My first wing flaps:

And when I knew Google’s algorithmic factors better than my own mother:

But — surprise! — in terms of idea crafting & spreading, this way was not perfect either.

The problem? Marketers are too practical.

They can use *some* principles intuitively — but they don’t know what they are.

That’s when I had enough.

I wanted to find a blog, course or university that will teach me: 

  • What psychological principles drive people?
  • How are these principles working?
  • How to use them?

… but I couldn’t find any.

So I created my own “laboratory”.

And Phantom Patterns was born.

Phantom Patterns

I spent years collecting the principles.

  • Viral posts
  • Bestseller books
  • Most-viewed videos 
  • Highest-rated series
  • Most famous movies
  • Legendary advertisements
  • Presidential election campaigns

Everything where ideas have power — the top 0.001% of human content.

… but finding the principles was just the first step.

I wanted to test if the principles work in practice, so I built Phantom Patterns around them. 

My hypothesis: If the factors really work, then the blog will become popular.

So Phantom Patterns is all about…

Ide a két fenti képből jöhet egy közös, ahol minden szereplő ott van

You can learn:

How to craft them (thinking) — and how to sell them (communication).

? Hello, I’m David Molnar and my profession life is: 

Reverse-engineering the most powerful computer of all-time: the human brain.

But… But… Why?

The richest place in the world is… the graveyard. All the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered.

— Les Brown

That’s why.

Welcome to my world — enjoy the circus!