Reform the broken system by leaving it behind and creating something better.
In 2011, Peter Thiel launched a controversial education program to pay college students $100,000 to drop out. To drop out and do what? Not look for a job. But to work full time on new startup businesses.
Thiel Fellows have created eleven startups valued at $1 billion or more.
The most notable Thiel fellow to date is Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain. As of this writing, Ethereum has a market capitalization of about $200 billion and has spawned an unprecedented ecosystem of decentralized software development. There are nearly 7,000 Ethereum-based projects, including some of the most innovative and promising ideas today.
Austin Russel, a 2013 Thiel fellow, took Luminar Technologies Inc. public in 2020, valuing the company at $8.5 billion, while Paul Gu helped Upstart go public at a $4.8 billion valuation. Both Russell and Gu were early Thiel fellows and co-founders of their respective companies. Dylan Field agreed to sell Figma Inc., the influential design company he co-founded, to Adobe Inc. last year for roughly $20 billion.
Concludes Bloomberg, "The results of the Thiel Fellowship demonstrate that colleges likely block or delay the success of the most promising students."
“The decline of community in the modern world has as its inevitable religious consequence the creation of masses of helpless, bewildered individuals who are unable to find solace in Christianity regarded merely as creed.”
Robert Nisbet
American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history. America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism. Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory.
The White House
The National Security Strategy Document
Games stimulate the mind. Kids thrive on mental stimulation. Games teach kids to triumph over challenging problems.
This story out of India: Sarwagya Singh Kushwaha was born in 2022. At 30 months he started learning chess. By age three he had defeated five ranking members of the International Chess Federation, earning him his own official ranking. What’s next? Recognition as a grand master as he continues learn about how chess works, and how victory is achieved against some of the most active minds of his generation.