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Thiel's strategy seems to rely on external "pre-selection" to pick his fellows. Even when the program launched, he selected several candidates that already had

Thiel's strategy seems to rely on external "pre-selection" to pick his fellows. Even when the program launched, he selected several candidates that already had been accepted to elite schools prior to applying. Nothing inherently wrong with this. But it does explain why colleges might be nervous: He's piggy-backing off their selection process to poach young candidates.

lawlessone 3y ago
I think if i was a billionaire id start the "Sure let's see what happens fund" The more obviously bad a business idea the more likely they would get funded (as long as it wasn't blatantly harmful). They get money, they support from relevantly qualified people that will try make it work etc. I'd be a billionaire so its not like i would care if it's a loss.
- hotnfresh 3y ago
  I’ve thought about this (because of course it might happen and I need to be ready, haha) and if I had billions I’d do two education things: 1) Fund a small pure research institution. Get a dozen or two academics who are promising but are hindered by publish-or-perish and related culture out of that mess, let them do their thing. Even if only one or two at a time do anything worthwhile and the rest just kick back and take the money, that’s potentially a pretty great outcome. No strings, long horizon, maybe even a lifetime-stipend kind of situation. 2) Buy the rights to some excellent textbooks in areas that don’t change fast enough to need major updates all the time (math, for example). Possibly whole curriculums, especially for lower grades. Put them in the public domain. Set up a small endowment to fund keeping them up-to-date (mostly just fixing errors). (This is 1,000% something the government ought to do, the ROI is crazy high, but they aren’t doing it, so whatever)
aleph_minus_one 3y ago
> But it does explain why colleges might be nervous: He's piggy-backing off their selection process to poach young candidates. If you embrace the current "college is useless/too expense" fashion, you could (maliciously) argue that this shows that the selection process of the colleges is much more valuable than their study programs. :-)
- bumby 3y ago
  That’s one takeaway from a Krueger study referenced elsewhere in this thread. Namely, elite colleges select for people who will be successful regardless rather than adding anything to their potential.

lawlessone 3y ago

I think if i was a billionaire id start the "Sure let's see what happens fund" The more obviously bad a business idea the more likely they would get funded (as long as it wasn't blatantly harmful). They get money, they support from relevantly qualified people that will try make it work etc. I'd be a billionaire so its not like i would care if it's a loss.

hotnfresh 3y ago
I’ve thought about this (because of course it might happen and I need to be ready, haha) and if I had billions I’d do two education things: 1) Fund a small pure research institution. Get a dozen or two academics who are promising but are hindered by publish-or-perish and related culture out of that mess, let them do their thing. Even if only one or two at a time do anything worthwhile and the rest just kick back and take the money, that’s potentially a pretty great outcome. No strings, long horizon, maybe even a lifetime-stipend kind of situation. 2) Buy the rights to some excellent textbooks in areas that don’t change fast enough to need major updates all the time (math, for example). Possibly whole curriculums, especially for lower grades. Put them in the public domain. Set up a small endowment to fund keeping them up-to-date (mostly just fixing errors). (This is 1,000% something the government ought to do, the ROI is crazy high, but they aren’t doing it, so whatever)

aleph_minus_one 3y ago

> But it does explain why colleges might be nervous: He's piggy-backing off their selection process to poach young candidates. If you embrace the current "college is useless/too expense" fashion, you could (maliciously) argue that this shows that the selection process of the colleges is much more valuable than their study programs. :-)

bumby 3y ago
That’s one takeaway from a Krueger study referenced elsewhere in this thread. Namely, elite colleges select for people who will be successful regardless rather than adding anything to their potential.