Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What Happened to the Thiel Fellows

backchannel.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 67 posts

Re: What Happened to the Thiel Fellows

#21

Post by GavinMcG »

Moshe_Silnorin wrote: post #18
kesselvon wrote: post #2

Just another front in Thiel's continued war against education. You need an education and experience in order to make the kinds of meaningful breakthroughs we need these days; the valley pushes the college drop-out mythos a little too much.

You need knowledge and smarts, one is given by your genetics the other is free online. "The liberal education" is granfalloon pushed by a rent-seeking administrative and professorial class. When we outlawed IQ tests for employment, we became unable to train engineers and other high-IQ professions in house, as minds capable of doing these jobs are rare, companies need to pre-filter before investing resources. As unive…

> You need knowledge and smarts, one is given by your genetics the other is free online.

That works for a certain kind of learner: people who are already good at breaking down a problem into constituent parts, who are driven enough to chase down the resources they need and to figure out how things fit together, and who want to learn about the topics that are most available online.

There are a lot of other intelligent people who could do valuable things with an education, but who lack one or more of those characteristics.

Re: What Happened to the Thiel Fellows

#22

Post by fullshark »

jasonmp85 wrote: post #5

> none of the successful dropouts ever went back to school. Bill Gates didn’t go back. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t go back. To go back would imply personal failure. I suppose if you view college solely as a means to an end (success), then sure; however, a liberal education has value in and of itself. But I suppose the above thinking is what we get when we make college a prerequisite for secure employment. People go to col…

On the one hand I think college's value is overstated.

On the other hand I think a lot of people who promote the mentality described in this article seem driven mostly by ego stroking ("I'm so smart and motivated I don't need college I just learn on my own") and remain ignorant.

Still this is an obviously great opportunity for any young person and is well worth exploring. College is a fine fallback if you "fail."

Re: What Happened to the Thiel Fellows

#23

Post by [deleted] »

azinman2 wrote: post #19
Ilverin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An alternative view is: "If you're already successful, everything you could learn at a college you can also learn out of college (see: the internet)".

That would be an incorrect view. First, few are so motivated that they'd devote years to self-learning at the same scale as university provide. Next, it would be difficult to put together a cohesive curriculum for yourself because you don't know what you don't know. Relatedly, understanding the arc/trajectory to pick it difficult, and to do it all alone with no guidance means there's no one qualified that you can ask…

[deleted]

Re: What Happened to the Thiel Fellows

#24

Post by codingdave »

The real long-term business value of an Ivy League education is also the network. So if he really was trying to replicate that, he succeeded.

But as someone who went to a non-Ivy school, and spent my 4 years getting an education that I truly feel has added a ton of value to my life, and to who I am... I just get offended at his attitude that college is for dunces. (And yes, it is my own problem if someone offends me, but that is a separate discussion). I will never claim that college is the right path for everybody, and I think that getting a job is the wrong reason to go. But the snide attitude that going to college actually makes you a lesser person, and recommending people drop out... that shows a deep misunderstanding of what higher education is really about.

Re: What Happened to the Thiel Fellows

#25

Post by erikpukinskis »

Ilverin wrote: post #12
jasonmp85 wrote: post #5

> none of the successful dropouts ever went back to school. Bill Gates didn’t go back. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t go back. To go back would imply personal failure. I suppose if you view college solely as a means to an end (success), then sure; however, a liberal education has value in and of itself. But I suppose the above thinking is what we get when we make college a prerequisite for secure employment. People go to col…

An alternative view is: "If you're already successful, everything you could learn at a college you can also learn out of college (see: the internet)".

People often focus too much on what is technically possible, and not enough on what's likely, given social and psychological realities. "Possible" isn't really possible if it requires an unusual psychology to work.

Re: What Happened to the Thiel Fellows

#26

Post by throwaway2016a »

jasonmp85 wrote: post #5

> none of the successful dropouts ever went back to school. Bill Gates didn’t go back. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t go back. To go back would imply personal failure. I suppose if you view college solely as a means to an end (success), then sure; however, a liberal education has value in and of itself. But I suppose the above thinking is what we get when we make college a prerequisite for secure employment. People go to col…

For example: I have an undergrad degree in computer science. I hope to one day be successful enough to get an MBA from MIT or Harvard. Both $100,000+ for a two year program.

That may sound funny because if I can afford that tuition without a giant lifestyle change (like selling my house)[1] it means I've already made it, so why do I need to even get the MBA? In fact the average salary for an MBA grad from one of those schools is not that much more than I make as a CTO.

For one, I enjoy the challenge, the joy of learning, and the feeling of accomplishment. In short, it's a trophy. A luxury. For me at least.

[1] It would certainly be easier if I was a early 20-something going full-time with no wife, no kid, and no house. But that is not the reality I live in. For someone with those things going back to school when your employer doesn't pay for it (in my case my employer is my own startup) is a big deal.

Re: What Happened to the Thiel Fellows

#28

Post by sfthrowaway3776 »

Also let's be real here -- I know a lot of the fellows and all the ones I've met definitely do not qualify as geniuses. Smart, motivated, sure, but when it comes to solving real hard problems whether in physics, biotech, or AI they are by far not the first people I'd turn to. There's a reason most of them are working on knockoff consumer apps or got shunted into programs like the google brain residency.

Re: What Happened to the Thiel Fellows

#29

Post by lawnchair_larry »

kesselvon wrote: post #2

Just another front in Thiel's continued war against education. You need an education and experience in order to make the kinds of meaningful breakthroughs we need these days; the valley pushes the college drop-out mythos a little too much.

Thiel has no war against education. Nobody would argue against education. The argument is that there are better, or at least, alternative ways to get an education. That for some fields, the traditional college system is outmoded.

Education != college degree

Re: What Happened to the Thiel Fellows

#30

Post by perfmode »

throwaway2016a wrote: post #26
jasonmp85 wrote: post #5

> none of the successful dropouts ever went back to school. Bill Gates didn’t go back. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t go back. To go back would imply personal failure. I suppose if you view college solely as a means to an end (success), then sure; however, a liberal education has value in and of itself. But I suppose the above thinking is what we get when we make college a prerequisite for secure employment. People go to col…

For example: I have an undergrad degree in computer science. I hope to one day be successful enough to get an MBA from MIT or Harvard. Both $100,000+ for a two year program. That may sound funny because if I can afford that tuition without a giant lifestyle change (like selling my house)[1] it means I've already made it, so why do I need to even get the MBA? In fact the average salary for an MBA grad from one of thos…

Often employers foot the bill
Post reply on HN