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Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

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Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

#101

Post by rowaway1 »

thedaveoflife wrote: post #34

Great minds will go on to do great things no matter if they go to college or not, but you should start a business because you are passionate about a product or service, not because a billionaire entrepreneur is bribing you to do so. This program could very well be successful, but I would argue the participants would have gone on to do great things regardless of thiel’s invovlement.

but now they'll start doing great things earlier, and won't be hampered by debt after graduation, which also postpones doing great things.

Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

#102

Post by rowaway1 »

hugh3 wrote: post #21
skidooer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oftentimes preconceived notions about tech will cloud your vision on implementation. If you are aware of a certain challenge, you will, more often than not, change your design to simplify the challenge. Someone without the experience will not be bound by those limitations and can always figure out how to do it later. When we look to high profile businessmen, more often then not they do not have the education behind t…

There are a few successful businessmen with no or very limited higher education... but they're quite few. You'll find more CEOs with PhDs than with high school diplomas.

CEO != entrepreneur

many entrepreneurs lack degrees.

Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

#103

Post by rowaway1 »

neebz wrote: post #3

I am seriously lost in terms of innovation. You may give kids money and they'll open up their Lemonade bars but how can you expect innovation without any research? And research without any education? I can't fathom any kid dropping out and then inventing a satellite? or solve any medical problem? And if they don't innovate then how can they even think of ways of bringing it to the consumers (which is the difficult ne…

education != school

smart, motivated people can teach themselves.

the ranks of un-degreed entrepreneurs refutes your skepticism that the un-degreed can't contribute or innovate.

Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

#104

Post by andrewguenther »

So if the one kid scored a total of 5580 across 5 SATs, that means he scored an average of 1116 on each test. Which, assuming this is before the writing section (I hope), is an abysmal score. Am I missing something? Or is it just impressive that he sat through that awful test five times?

Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

#105

Post by rowaway1 »

dmazin wrote: post #16

These kids' parents must hate Thiel. What does this guy know about what's good for their futures?

i'm sure their parents are very disappointed that their children won an elite $100k grant before the age of 20.

it's gonna be an ugly mark they'll never scrub off their resume, or google searches of their name.

worse, should they ever want to go back to school, what respectable school would accept someone who received a thiel prize?

should have gone to school, taken on debt, and gone on to some internships after graduation, these kids.

Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

#106

Post by kenjackson »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #93
kenjackson wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they also provide a disproportionate amount of airtime to Mother Jones and the American Prospect? Are they also aggressively pursuing an agenda that people have explicitly described as "liberal". It's not one thing, but its the combination of his apparent agenda coupled with his background. With that said, if Google decided to promote planned parenthood links and hid southern baptist links, then I'd probably belie…

Have you considered the possibility that regardless of his other views, Peter Thiel may genuinely think that college is not for everyone? I.e., don't you think it's possible that his individualist, pro-free thinker views inform both his libertarian political views and also his views that our rigid college-based gatekeeping system is unnecessary?

I.e., don't you think it's possible that his individualist, pro-free thinker views inform both his libertarian political views and also his views that our rigid college-based gatekeeping system is unnecessary?

Probably not since one doesn't naturally flow from the other. Especially since he creates and participates in a several other gatekeeping systems.

Peter Thiel as a libertarian is depressed simply because, despte being white and rich, he can't find a way to deprive other groups of some basic civil rights. What freedom do you have if you can't deprive others of theirs? Indeed Mr. Thiel.

Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

#107

Post by kenjackson »

wheels wrote: post #97
kenjackson wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, someone just submitted this link to HN: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/18/what-s-wrong-with-silicon... Some nice quotes from Thiel: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” “Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women—two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians—have rendered the notion of ‘capitalist democracy’ in…

I was aware of all of the things you mentioned when I made my comment. You're conflating a whole mess of things: "conservative", "Republican" and "Libertarian" are all different. The only one of those three that can Thiel can be meaningfully labeled is libertarian. He's a couple orders of magnitude further away from Republicans than most Democrats. His political views are radical and outspoken, but "Republican" they…

you made no attempt to actually draw a connection between this program and his purported political agenda

Unfortunately you missed the complete premise of my position. His act, the creation of his fund, is inherently conservative. And furthermore, it's something I had long predicted as part of the conservative movement (with ample help from those in the movement saying they were planning on doing such a thing).

I didn't work from Thiel's ideologoy forward. I heard about the act and my first thought, before even originally knowing who did it was that it would be a prominent conservative. I was not shocked to see it was Mr. Thiel. At that point the rest of the pieces fit together perfectly.

You can attempt to downplay Thiel's ideological motivation, but only the most diehard conservatives (of which there are plenty on HN) will disagree.

Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

#108

Post by yummyfajitas »

kenjackson wrote: post #106
yummyfajitas wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered the possibility that regardless of his other views, Peter Thiel may genuinely think that college is not for everyone? I.e., don't you think it's possible that his individualist, pro-free thinker views inform both his libertarian political views and also his views that our rigid college-based gatekeeping system is unnecessary?

I.e., don't you think it's possible that his individualist, pro-free thinker views inform both his libertarian political views and also his views that our rigid college-based gatekeeping system is unnecessary? Probably not since one doesn't naturally flow from the other. Especially since he creates and participates in a several other gatekeeping systems. Peter Thiel as a libertarian is depressed simply because, despt…

What freedom do you have if you can't deprive others of theirs? Indeed Mr. Thiel.

If you are making statements like this, you clearly know nothing about either libertarianism or Peter Thiel.

Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

#109

Post by Tichy »

veyron wrote: post #44
Tichy wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I know is that I certainly did not invent any satellites or solved any medical problems while at university. Instead I tried to collect points in an artificial game system.

If I may ask, what school did you go to? I find a strong clustering of disenchanted replies at certain schools

I went to a German university. I don't really want to bash them, as the level of education was actually very good. I was just clueless as to how to best direct my education. Studying maths also didn't help with getting involved in creating things.

There actually is a European Space Agency thing nearby, and an acquaintance DID work on satellites there for his PhD, so as I said, I can't really blame the system.

I guess the key thing for me is the cluelessness about how to go about reaching goals effectively. I still relied on the system to somehow stir me towards a nice job.

Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

#110

Post by Tichy »

larsberg wrote: post #27
Tichy wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I know is that I certainly did not invent any satellites or solved any medical problems while at university. Instead I tried to collect points in an artificial game system.

You definitely missed an opportunity. My first year, I volunteered without pay in a research lab just to see what was going on, and then by the second through fourth years I was contributing to actual research. Of course, it's not entirely clear that I was more help than hindrance to the group until midway through my third year, but I certainly learned a lot and got a lot of mentoring you can't get via youtube and e-…

Working in a research lab would have been my dream (and it's all for free while you are a student, isn't it). I just didn't have a clue as to how to get there. I don't blame the system, as I wrote in another post. Although it wouldn't have hurt to get some directions.
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