NeoAcademia

NeoAcademia is a biweekly exploration of the shifting walls of the ivory tower.

This week I explored The Paper Belt on Fire with author/venture capitalist/renegade philosopher Michael Gibson.

Michael is the co-founder of the 1517 Fund, a venture capital fund investing in teams led by dropouts, and renegade scientists who reject the standard notion of academic credentials. Before that he was vice president for grants at the Thiel Foundation, where he helped launch and run the Thiel Fellowship.

Michael's debut book is the story of how he got here after dropping out of a philosophy Ph.D program.

For more on Michael, detailed show notes, and a chance to win $ in an ideas tournament, check out the Theory Gang newsletter!

This week my guest is Jason Snyder, a cofounder of the Doomer Optimism movement and faculty member in the Department of Sustainable Development at Appalachian State. We talked about the concept of Doomer Optimism the future of practical skills, education, and what that means in local and cosmolocal communities. Jason had a great perspective on the galaxy brain-like tendencies of intellectual ideas, versus small-scale, practical implementations that anyone can take.

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This week I sat down with Tani Berlo and talked about how she’s crafting a NeoAcademic career that combines her passion for history and her business acumen. Tani’s makes bite-sized hot girl history clips for her 800k TikTok followers, but she also gives monthly lectures for her History Club patreons exploring ancient civilizations.

For more on Tani check out the show notes.