Imagine tomorrow that you opened your eyes and found yourself in a playground. You need clarification. You see other people around, playing on swings, talking, and roaming.
You roam around, still trying to understand why you are here. You talk to people and make some friends. Many people are playing on the swings, some weird ones too.
For example, you find many people who urge you and force you to come and join them on their swings. You see, their game is unattractive, and they seem bothered by this fact. Weird.
No one has an interesting answer when you ask why we are in this playground. Also, many people think they are doing something meaningful while playing on their swings. Lol, why? Is there another word for this playground we have been talking about?
It's called life.
Life is a playground, and we are all playing. Whatever you are doing isn't any more important than what someone else is. It is all a made-up game.
Once you internalize, you realize how powerful this is. And what's equanimity? Once you know that this is indeed a playground, living on this planet is like a day that allows you to find things significant to you. You can find something that you'd still do if you were in a playground because you are in one. Do not be bothered by the people urging you to come on their swings for some reason. Even create your own. (understanding these can make a student's life more accessible and exciting. No anxiety and pressure. Just curiosity).
Another thing, after waking up in the playground, you'll realize the only curious thing is to understand it. What is it? How does it work? How can I improve it better (because what else can you do)? The most powerful thing a child can understand.
We will talk about a particular way of thinking, which includes touching on philosophical elements of life and exploring paths of concrete, practical ideas. Only by asking the most challenging questions about how we think can we fundamentally find and solve the biggest problems in education.
We will talk about a particular way of thinking, which includes touching on philosophical elements of life and exploring paths of concrete, practical ideas. Only by asking the most challenging questions about how we think can we fundamentally find and solve the biggest problems in education.
Programs built from these principles, as Albert Camus would put it, genuinely accepting the absurdity of life, will allow kids, and even adults, to find their game. So here we are, not children, but children still. Trying to find the pleasure we'd like to have in this playground. Understand it, and make it better.
In an uncertain world where we don't know what will happen tomorrow, let us not worry and work towards a brighter tomorrow; let's work towards an even brighter today.
It's important to acknowledge that our current understanding and imagination of what constitutes the "perfect" education system may be limited by our present knowledge and experiences. Just as people in the 16th century could not have imagined motor cars as a means of transportation, we may not be able to fully envision the best education system yet to be discovered or invented.
Waiting for the perfect solution will only delay progress and hinder our ability to take action toward bettering education. Therefore, we should focus on implementing practical ideas that can positively impact the short term while keeping our long-term goals in mind.
So what should be our approach? Sheer experimentation, pursuing exciting ideas from first principles, being humble, embracing technologies, referring to History, and studying nuances of large-scale systems.
We contacted John Coogan (Founder of Soylent and Lucy), and he helped us focus on a vital tangent that learning and school may look like nothing we can imagine right now.
Back then, when there was no internet, when the best people were found in a university, getting a degree from it was considered a prestige, and people with those degrees were considered the most knowledgeable by society. But time has passed, everything has evolved, and we now have the internet – knowledge at our fingertips; everything has changed, but not this system, yet many people can't live without that paper, which has become a commodity. Why is that?
Employers think if one has survived all these years to get this piece of paper, he will do whatever they say. People need to understand what it is worth? When they know the time has passed. It is not the honor of knowledge but obedience. Credentialing helps people to filter people out quickly.
[Naval's thread](https://twitter.com/naval/status/912220382450524160)
Thanks to individuals and organizations like Y Combinator, there are plenty of opportunities for highly skilled people regardless of 'degree'.
Now IMAGINE.
Your kids are waking up. They go (because they want) to where they feel welcomed and like home. It is a place for them to find what they like and satisfy their curiosity.
Some are building rockets, and some are computers. Some play and make games. Some are creating the following best content on the internet. Some are directing movies, and some are studying physics. Some are going to finish their quarter-long research project. Why?
Just because – The perks of living, Not trying to climb any ladders of life, but working really hard because they're having fun.
Without talking more about what is wrong, what is not working, and what needs to get fixed, we present you with some words of @KapilGuptaMD –
“I do not condemn a man for having a job. I chastise him for believing that this is all he is worth. There are glorious talents that are unique only to You. Nature does not make carbon copies. And schools and societies insist upon nothing but carbon copies. One day you will die. And when you are in your final days, how will you feel when you realize that you spent your life as a “worker?” How will you feel when you realize that you have wasted your entire life never having explored the talents that were meant only for You? You are fortunate. For there is still time. What will you do with it? Nature created you as an original. Originals are invested with glorious talents. Discover the talent within yourself that nature has been waiting for you to show to the world. You are a creator. And you always have been. Give yourself permission to create. For if you do not, the world will take advantage of you being ignorant of this fact. And it will put you to “work!””
So, you have to decide what life you want to live? Do you want to obey orders, do the work, and live life like everyone around you? Or you want to explore, learn and find answers to satisfy your curiosity.
You can help only those who need help. You can fix the system for those who know it's not working. The approach is similar here. This will help those who need help. Convincing everybody is not feasible and is never going to happen.
Why do we exit? Because the government and society will not adopt our ideas. Leaving the only option – exit. One day, the incumbent education system will destroy itself. As @Dwarkesh_sp said, the government will still pour money even if you build a better education system, so let them do it; let's not try to correct them. Let's cave our own path.
output2.mp4
When you don't have any options left, you need to exit. As Balaji says, "Exit Enables alternatives. Alternatives enable reform." @Badal, @Sehaj & @Aman. We all were fed up with the system. So we simply chose to exit.
[Balaji's tweet](https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1433439209478504448)
If you are still reading this, you are the one we are looking for in our community. As George Hotz says, “You won’t exit, but you can do it. I am not saying you should, but it’s good to be aware that you can, it’s a choice you have!”
Hack_Club_AMA_w__George_Hotz_Founder_of_Comma_AI_online-video-cutter.com.mp4
Here's what we will be doing instead, and we invite you to join us on the journey. Introducing Wayfarers' Space.
Here is a clip of Derek Sivers -
Our approach to this movement is similar. Peter Thiel says there is a vast 'transition function' for society to adapt to new & better things – especially for systems deeply ingrained in the core of society.
So to make this movement mainstream - we need to start with those who are already aware of the down comings of the education system - and already want to be helped.
These are highly passionate individuals who want to stand out, follow untraditional ways, and create new paths for their life.
We start by making a community of such people - they may not be in huge numbers, but they are the ones that will act like catalysts for the movement to pick up (as shown in the clip) - and pave the way for society to start getting aware of the new path. In the end, this is a people game. You can think of a pure sweet idea, but it will only work with such passionate people.
The community raises awareness in various ways, showcasing the achievements of people who didn't follow this so-called traditional path and guest sessions every week with those who have yet to do it.
There is also the feeling of being "at home" with the community. We are humans; we are wired to feel connected towards certain groups of people - traditionally, people have been doing that with college communities. So here we want to create an environment where everyone understands they are not alone - and we're undertaking all challenging problems together.
But we must ensure that it is not another dead community - where 95% don't even remember joining such a server. How? Here we take inspiration from Balaji's idea of a Network State. We must align the community towards a shared goal - possibly around achieving small (but crucial) goals to improve the educational system. Or deeply engraving learning pedagogy with the aspect of community-building and learning together. For example, group projects for learning.
It will not be the standard model of company building →, user consuming, but making users part of this journey of solving problems and building (especially the ones who join the movement early).
A universal learning pedagogy based on building-centric, creativity-inducing methods, collaboration, learning on-demand, following curiosity, and top-to-bottom, vital resources will connect students irrespective of their learning interests. Same (with nuances, of course) for engineers, artists or musicians.
These days it is not the lack of information that is the problem - but the filtering of proper one. A person today can learn more from internet resources podcasts, newsletters, blogs, and articles - than he possibly can from university curriculums. So an emphasis on standard content type is the element of embracing tech progress - and improving the overall education standards.
The basic gist is that with a high level of freedom to pursue individual learning interests - we keep students under one umbrella of community.
Students would be part of the mission. Under our issued guidelines and under shared goals, students would get together to start their own campuses. Campuses need not be physical, but they do form a shared network.
A network of students playing in the playground, learning and building stuff together. (this closely resembles Balaji's network state approach). Online first, physical second, but not never. Preferably with time, Network communities would gravitate towards being more physical, as stated in the book Network State by Balaji. This makes it feasible and much more scalable.
12 years of schooling, 4 years undergraduate, 2 years graduate. And in most cases - not one shred of creativity aims to improve the world. We must take bold (and very exciting) steps to ensure students are prolific.
Learning AI? Why not build your own implementation of the text-to-image model? Why not try to improve it? Learning CS? Why not contribute to LLVM or make new architectures of compilers?
Learning music? Why not try to make new-gen music and compete with Rick Rubin?
It's hard, yes - sometimes, maybe even not possible. But embarking on such a project and committing to it will yield a much greater learning curve than reading books and thinking, you know, stuff.
@Balajis in Network State stated that if tech founders of the early 2000s had to study business to create great companies, founders of early network states would have to look at History and our political systems.
At last, IMAGINE.
Next week, your kids are excited to come home from school, to start working with some other friends, and to build the new multiplayer game they all have been working on. Some friends are really trying to learn how to make their computer, From transistors to the browser.
Won't your kids love this? We can only have some people trying to learn how to build computers by their own choice. Your kids may want something else? Becoming the next Mr Beast, who knows? Some would like to understand how a satellite works or how a movie is directed.
Can't we do this from next week?
Meet together, learn and build? We will develop a set of guiding principles and a manifesto. And just invite kids like us to come and join us. Let's encourage kids to start something like this on their own.
We understand there are a lot of unknown unknowns. But that's how we do it, not by starting with the best education system, but by starting today.
The world is flat; it really is. There is nowhere to get to, we are here, and this is our playground. Can we build this? Let's not dream about tomorrow and start today. Let's try.