Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses • Hacker News Board

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

#111

Post by clafoutis » Thu, May 26, 2011, 9:46 AM UTC

dmazin wrote: post #16

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

view from this parent: we’re grateful for this opportunity. our son definitely lacks the “imitation gene” so k-12 public school (and any other options within our financial means and family scheduling limits) did not adequately encourage/support his talents and ability. Furthermore,the college admission process is so formulaic that it failed to spot his potential. This fellowship is elitist in number, but not in spirit. They judged him on the merit of his idea and the depth of his abilities, not on his GPA. It was a competition that was open to all. And though it is not scalable, it offers up the notion that alternative paths to over-priced academia is possible. It is a small, but meaningful attempt to break the university monopoly on the futures of our brightest, most innovative students.

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

#112

Post by rms » Thu, May 26, 2011, 10:18 AM UTC

samtp wrote: post #71

kiba wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's dedicated to the cause of eliminating death and aging. That's good enough for me. In order to eliminate aging and death, you must have an educated and ambitious populace who can mobilize resources to wage war on mortality. Yes, he's a techno-libertarian, but like all great techno-libertarians he's interested in killing what kill human beings and crystallizing human potential. Aubrey de Grey even mention libertar…

>eliminating death This is a pointless exercise that is doomed to failure. Sure, we may be able to extend a person's life to 200 or 300 years. But will we be able to cure all future diseases (for the next million years), eliminate accidents, natural disasters, and sudden body failure? What about when the sun burns out in a few billion years? Will we be able to successfully colonize another planet while keeping the sa…

Yes, it's not clear to me that once we eliminate death that we will still be human, but hopefully we won't have eliminated life at the same time.

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

#113

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 26, 2011, 10:19 AM UTC

alexandros wrote: post #29

_delirium wrote: post #11

I'd be somewhat more interested in a program like this if it were being run by someone I believed actually wanted in good faith to improve education/business, rather than having ulterior political motives. Thiel is quite open that his main motivation is that he thinks universities promote politics he dislikes, so he'd like to destroy them for that reason. He also claims that in doing so he'd improve education, but it…

"Thiel is quite open that his main motivation is that he thinks universities promote politics he dislikes, so he'd like to destroy them for that reason." [citation needed]

[deleted]

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

#114

Post by rms » Thu, May 26, 2011, 10:22 AM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #11

I'd be somewhat more interested in a program like this if it were being run by someone I believed actually wanted in good faith to improve education/business, rather than having ulterior political motives. Thiel is quite open that his main motivation is that he thinks universities promote politics he dislikes, so he'd like to destroy them for that reason. He also claims that in doing so he'd improve education, but it…

This is filled with disenguous statements, but I'll pick on one of them.

You use the word "destroy". Thiel doesn't want to destroy universities. He thinks their product is overvalued and that the price should be lower. One reality where the price of college was revalued would be one where a whole lot less people go to college, unless supply and demand becomes even more borked.

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

#115

Post by ryanisinallofus » Thu, May 26, 2011, 8:43 PM UTC

veyron wrote: post #91

ryanisinallofus wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was part of that trap. My parents wouldn't or couldn't help me and they made too much for me to get financial financial aid.

Out of curiosity: what are you doing now?

Designing/dev at a popular restaurant guide and mobile app. School loans paid off by my wife and I working full time and only living off of my income.