In this episode, I talk about my new initiative, Alex University, which is an online university, and why I think it's a good idea. I also talk about how we live in a state of dumbing down, and how we can fix it.
00:01:55.540It will, all classes will be taken, will take place via Zoom.
00:01:59.420Um, the classes will be highly affordable, infinitely affordable in comparison to the current university system.
00:02:10.080Uh, they will be in the $200 range, and they will be fairly short in length.
00:02:17.000That is a month, five weeks, six weeks, something like that.
00:02:20.860So, it is something that you can dedicate a short part of the year to.
00:02:27.840Um, and it does, it is something that, that takes dedication.
00:02:32.260Um, as I wrote in our, you know, initial essay, uh, we live in a digital Alexandria.
00:02:42.960So, um, the Library of Alexandria is obviously a famous, um, library and scholarly institution of the ancient world, perhaps the most famous.
00:02:56.620What exactly happened to it is up to dispute.
00:03:01.080It's been a long-term rumors of burning and so on, but it, it did, um, disappear at some point.
00:03:07.120But it was an incredible institution of learning and maintaining scrolls, but we could imagine it a lot like the Lyceum of ancient Athens as well.
00:03:25.180Now, we live in a digital Alexandria right now.
00:03:30.320Now, the amount of information is absolutely incredible, and not just information.
00:03:38.500The amount of, at least potentially, learning that one can acquire through the internet, and effectively for free, is absolutely amazing.
00:03:50.160At the very least, if you're living in a first world country where you have easy internet access.
00:03:57.580You can hear lectures, you can read books online, you can search books for details through Google Books.
00:04:07.900Um, intelligent people all have a podcast of some kind, or a YouTube channel.
00:04:14.420You can learn about mainstream history, arcane philosophy, revisions of how we view the world in various ways.
00:04:28.720Um, it is all at our fingertips, literally and figuratively.
00:04:34.100But I, I think we also recognize that we live in a state of dumbing down.
00:04:43.440Um, and so we have all of this available, and yet there are polls of, say, high school graduates in the United States that are rather shocking in their, uh, absence of knowledge, maybe even possessing negative knowledge.
00:05:01.560They're very sure that Jesus Christ is an American, things like that.
00:05:09.620I, you think I'm joking, but sadly I'm not, or 40% of the American public thinks that chocolate milk comes from chocolate cows.
00:05:19.680Um, well, uh, obviously we cannot resolve a problem of that magnitude, but I, I think you, we, we will be able to ameliorate things in, in our own small way.
00:05:33.620Um, and I, I, I think what is lacking in this, you know, endless cornucopia of information and knowledge, even potential wisdom is good instruction.
00:05:48.420Um, I, I, I am not as hostile towards the university system as many people on the right are, uh, for better and for worse.
00:06:04.180I, I, I think that if you are going to seek status in the world, that attending Harvard is not a bad way to go.
00:06:15.540Uh, I also gained quite a bit from my own education.
00:06:20.400Uh, I was educated at the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago and Duke.
00:06:25.340Um, yeah, there was a lot of Salinas along the way, you know, the, uh, bad professors, um, focusing on partying or whatever, or just, uh, um, the, you know, the, the university is what it's become a kind of gigantic daycare center for 20 year olds.
00:06:48.180Uh, where the, uh, the, uh, the gym and the student center and their, and the student center's climbing wall and, uh, cafeteria that has, you know, all sorts of chain restaurants in it.
00:06:59.900It's, um, it, it, it has become that a kind of entertainment place and not really a place of serious learning, but I do have very fond memories of my time in school.
00:07:13.660And there is no question that professors that I had, I could go into this perhaps at some point, influenced me, helped me learn to read by that.
00:07:24.100I mean, read something closely, um, to interpret something, um, in a way that I, I don't, I don't think I would be the person I am today without them.
00:07:36.540Some people might consider that an insult, but I'll leave that as it is.
00:07:39.620Uh, so I am not as hostile towards this.
00:07:44.380I, I, I, I'm not sure I can agree with people when they're just like, don't go to college, go start a business and make money.
00:07:50.020That can be an excellent decision for many people.
00:07:53.380I actually don't think that's a great decision for all people.
00:07:57.980Um, I would also add that I think the university system has become deformed as it were in, in the sense that there's a kind of
00:08:09.020reverse engineering or, or cargo cult attitude towards what an education is.
00:08:15.380If you listen to politicians and I'm sure a lot of advisors in schools, they think of a university education as a ticket to the middle class.
00:08:27.660So you get this ticket, it's punched, you get on the train, next thing, you know, you got a house in the burbs and you're happy and stable and paying, uh, taxes and going on vacations and so on.
00:08:44.280Well, I can, obviously no myth is, you know, no myth could come about if there isn't a kernel of truth to it.
00:08:54.340And there is a kernel of truth to that though.
00:08:56.880So I, I think that myth is quickly being transformed into a kind of nightmare at this point, um, where, uh, young people, and I have a tremendous amount of sympathy for them, by the way, young people will go and announce, you know, oh, I'm working at Starbucks and I've got $150,000 in debt.
00:09:18.400And the conservative response is usually, well, yeah, you, that's what happens when you major in women's studies or critical race theory and, you know, pay your, pay your, pay that bill and shut up.
00:09:31.620Well, I actually do have a lot of sympathy for them.
00:09:34.160I think they were sold a bill of goods and, you know, an 18 year old or, or even a 25 year old, or maybe even a 30 year old, they, they do see a lot of potential in education.
00:09:46.260They've maybe bought into that myth to some degree, uh, about a ticket to the middle class.
00:09:51.320Maybe they actually seriously want to learn things.
00:09:54.320And when you sign on a dotted line, you know, here's a subsidized loan, uh, pay it back when you can.
00:10:03.700So I, I actually have a great deal of sympathy for them, but this is a digression.
00:10:08.000I think the main thing is that that myth of the university is quickly turning into a nightmare and there is a tremendous amount of skepticism about the university, university system.
00:10:26.300Now I am never going to host any course that would demand 50 to $70,000 a year subsidized through loans.
00:10:40.820Um, I, that's not how I imagined this taking place.
00:10:45.920Um, I, I think a small, highly affordable, these courses are now $200, uh, demanding, uh, though something that should supplement your life.
00:11:41.540Um, but again, to answer the paradox, I, I think there's just been simply a lack of instruction and engagement.
00:11:51.320People go to the great store of knowledge in order to get some cool facts so they can win an argument on Facebook.
00:12:03.200Or they go to it just merely to be entertained, to watch YouTube until 3am and, you know, watch old, uh, Saturday Night Live sketches or, uh, you know, various reviews of the new Spider-Man film or makeup tutorials.
00:12:24.660Uh, a kind of endless dumbing down session.
00:12:34.560There isn't that ability to connect with the teacher, uh, to learn from him or her, to challenge him or her, to be challenged, to think in a way that you haven't before.
00:13:39.400Um, I, I think a lot of failure and spinning of wheels and going nowhere among ideological groups is actually due to that lack of education, building, in the best sense of the term.
00:13:58.200Um, so we are starting out quite modestly as one should do.
00:14:06.820I think the, the term in Silicon Valley is a minimal viable product.
00:14:13.900And that doesn't mean that we don't take it seriously or that it's a throwaway or a one-off.
00:14:19.620It's none of those things, but I want to start off quite minimally, really nail things, make some mistakes, learn from them, correct them, and move to what would be a functioning online university.
00:14:39.120What could eventually be a real world university as well, if it is viable and if we are serving our students and if we are attracting excellent students who want to engage in this material, that is a great long-term vision.
00:14:58.120Um, again, my medium and short-term vision is to create some awesome four to six-week courses that people want to take and that are, they want to engage with.
00:15:10.700Um, I also have a bit of a, uh, let's say secondary motivation in doing this in the sense that a lot of these courses are going to coincide with publishing efforts in a really productive way.
00:15:31.760Um, so Edward Dutton, for instance, is teaching a course on an introductory to evolutionary psychology.
00:15:40.240Um, he will be referencing some work that he's published.