RadixJournal - ALEX university： What Are We Thinking!？

00:00:00.240 Hello, everyone. This is Richard, and welcome back to my journal. Today is May 11th, 2022.

00:00:11.600 Notable people born on May 11th. Cam Newton, Salvador Dali, Louis Farrakhan, and myself.

00:00:23.000 So, quite a group. I'm proud to be among them.

00:00:30.020 All right. I want to talk a little bit about Alex University, which is a new initiative that I've started.

00:00:41.400 And before I do that, I'm going to talk a little bit about this podcast.

00:00:45.480 So, this is a podcast for subscribers only, but I'm going to make this one open to the public.

00:00:56.540 And I'll do this for other matters as well, but I really want this one to be open to the public because it's not just my hot take.

00:01:05.160 It is a, I guess, advertisement, you could say, if we want to be crass.

00:01:12.320 But it's a discussion about something that I feel really passionate about.

00:01:17.680 And, in fact, I think it's a way that I can, and other people who will be involved in it,

00:01:25.000 can contribute to the world and intellectual life and fill a void in many ways.

00:01:33.840 So, it's Alex University, and here are the basic components of it.

00:01:39.420 It is an online university.

00:01:42.500 So, it is not a place where you could stay at a dorm or go to lecture halls or go to amazing keggers on Friday night.

00:01:53.880 No, it is all online.

00:01:55.540 It will, all classes will be taken, will take place via Zoom.

00:01:59.420 Um, the classes will be highly affordable, infinitely affordable in comparison to the current university system.

00:02:10.080 Uh, they will be in the $200 range, and they will be fairly short in length.

00:02:17.000 That is a month, five weeks, six weeks, something like that.

00:02:20.860 So, it is something that you can dedicate a short part of the year to.

00:02:27.840 Um, and it does, it is something that, that takes dedication.

00:02:32.260 Um, as I wrote in our, you know, initial essay, uh, we live in a digital Alexandria.

00:02:42.960 So, um, the Library of Alexandria is obviously a famous, um, library and scholarly institution of the ancient world, perhaps the most famous.

00:02:56.620 What exactly happened to it is up to dispute.

00:03:01.080 It's been a long-term rumors of burning and so on, but it, it did, um, disappear at some point.

00:03:07.120 But 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.

00:03:25.180 Now, we live in a digital Alexandria right now.

00:03:30.320 Now, the amount of information is absolutely incredible, and not just information.

00:03:38.500 The amount of, at least potentially, learning that one can acquire through the internet, and effectively for free, is absolutely amazing.

00:03:50.160 At the very least, if you're living in a first world country where you have easy internet access. 0.97

00:03:57.580 You can hear lectures, you can read books online, you can search books for details through Google Books.

00:04:07.900 Um, intelligent people all have a podcast of some kind, or a YouTube channel.

00:04:14.420 You can learn about mainstream history, arcane philosophy, revisions of how we view the world in various ways.

00:04:28.720 Um, it is all at our fingertips, literally and figuratively.

00:04:34.100 But I, I think we also recognize that we live in a state of dumbing down.

00:04:43.440 Um, 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.

00:05:01.560 They're very sure that Jesus Christ is an American, things like that.

00:05:09.620 I, you think I'm joking, but sadly I'm not, or 40% of the American public thinks that chocolate milk comes from chocolate cows.

00:05:18.140 You've heard stuff like that.

00:05:19.680 Um, 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.

00:05:33.620 Um, and I, I, I think what is lacking in this, you know, endless cornucopia of information and knowledge, even potential wisdom is good instruction.

00:05:48.420 Um, I, I, I am not as hostile towards the university system as many people on the right are, uh, for better and for worse.

00:06:04.180 I, I, I think that if you are going to seek status in the world, that attending Harvard is not a bad way to go.

00:06:15.540 Uh, I also gained quite a bit from my own education.

00:06:20.400 Uh, I was educated at the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago and Duke.

00:06:25.340 Um, 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.

00:06:48.180 Uh, 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.

00:06:59.900 It'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.

00:07:13.660 And 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.

00:07:24.100 I 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.

00:07:36.540 Some people might consider that an insult, but I'll leave that as it is.

00:07:39.620 Uh, so I am not as hostile towards this.

00:07:44.380 I, 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.

00:07:50.020 That can be an excellent decision for many people.

00:07:53.380 I actually don't think that's a great decision for all people.

00:07:57.980 Um, 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

00:08:09.020 reverse engineering or, or cargo cult attitude towards what an education is.

00:08:15.380 If 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.

00:08:27.660 So 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.

00:08:44.280 Well, I can, obviously no myth is, you know, no myth could come about if there isn't a kernel of truth to it.

00:08:54.340 And there is a kernel of truth to that though.

00:08:56.880 So 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.

00:09:18.400 And 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.

00:09:31.620 Well, I actually do have a lot of sympathy for them.

00:09:34.160 I 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.

00:09:46.260 They've maybe bought into that myth to some degree, uh, about a ticket to the middle class.

00:09:51.320 Maybe they actually seriously want to learn things.

00:09:54.320 And when you sign on a dotted line, you know, here's a subsidized loan, uh, pay it back when you can.

00:10:01.560 It's hard not to take that.

00:10:03.700 So I, I actually have a great deal of sympathy for them, but this is a digression.

00:10:08.000 I 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.

00:10:26.300 Now I am never going to host any course that would demand 50 to $70,000 a year subsidized through loans.

00:10:40.820 Um, I, that's not how I imagined this taking place.

00:10:45.920 Um, I, I think a small, highly affordable, these courses are now $200, uh, demanding, uh, though something that should supplement your life.

00:11:00.900 Um, supplemental.

00:11:02.380 I, I think those are some of the values, pragmatic values that I, I take towards this endeavor.

00:11:08.060 But again, I, I, we need to return to that paradox of we live in the greatest library that ever was, the internet. 0.99

00:11:17.500 So why is everyone stupid? 0.96

00:11:21.220 Um, well, again, I, I think we should on some level break down that myth of education, the American myth of education. 1.00

00:11:29.940 It's a ticket to the middle class, but I don't think education is for everyone.

00:11:35.980 Um, at least higher education.

00:11:38.060 Uh, it is for the very few.

00:11:41.540 Um, but again, to answer the paradox, I, I think there's just been simply a lack of instruction and engagement.

00:11:51.320 People go to the great store of knowledge in order to get some cool facts so they can win an argument on Facebook.

00:12:03.200 Or 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.

00:12:24.660 Uh, a kind of endless dumbing down session.

00:12:30.480 Uh, there isn't that instruction.

00:12:34.560 There 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.

00:12:50.080 That is absent.

00:12:53.560 And I also think that just, and I'm, I'm kind of speaking just about my own personal career and so on.

00:13:03.980 Um, I think there has been a real absence of serious intellectual engagement in right-wing circles in general.

00:13:17.320 Now, you absolutely do not need to be a, uh, right-winger in order to attend a class I teach.

00:13:28.200 In fact, I hope there are people who aren't, um, you know, ideologically rigid in my class.

00:13:37.640 Um, but you know what I mean?

00:13:39.400 Um, 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.

00:13:58.200 Um, so we are starting out quite modestly as one should do.

00:14:06.820 I think the, the term in Silicon Valley is a minimal viable product.

00:14:13.900 And that doesn't mean that we don't take it seriously or that it's a throwaway or a one-off.

00:14:19.620 It'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.

00:14:39.120 What 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.

00:14:58.120 Um, 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.

00:15:10.700 Um, 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.

00:15:31.760 Um, so Edward Dutton, for instance, is teaching a course on an introductory to evolutionary psychology.

00:15:40.240 Um, he will be referencing some work that he's published.

00:15:44.620 Ed's obviously incredibly prolific.

00:15:47.240 And, um, so it, it, it can work in that way.

00:15:50.600 Um, I'm more excited about how it can work in another way.

00:15:56.060 Um, for instance, uh, Mark Brahman and I have a book plan.

00:16:01.760 Um, and, uh, it is basically applying REM theory, which you can learn more about, um, to 20th century cinema.

00:16:19.740 and i think the teaching a course on that which we are going to do would actually go a really long

00:16:28.900 way in order in in honing our interpretations and getting this book to be excellent we need to

00:16:38.740 actually first publish the rem book which is well underway we've been working on it for many years

00:16:44.660 now um so that the basic theory is out there and uh applying it will be very fruitful and i i think

00:16:54.260 fun as well particularly when we're talking about you know hollywood cinema of the 20th century

00:17:00.740 um but i i think teaching a course which we are going to do over the summer will go a long way

00:17:07.420 in terms of actualizing that book and so taking a course uh would mean that you're kind of uh

00:17:17.400 i don't know the right word you're being our editor you're giving us feedback you're um maybe even kind

00:17:23.020 of re-channeling thing things making us question aspects of what we're doing um and ditto with the

00:17:31.200 course that i'm teaching which i'm very excited about um which is nietzsche's political theology

00:17:37.200 uh this is something i have written a lot on in the past but these matters are are kind of um a bit

00:17:44.540 scattered they're they're very interesting essays i'm proud of but uh they really need to be put

00:17:50.900 together in terms of a a larger interpretation of nietzsche and what he thought about politics

00:17:57.020 and again a course goes a long way into making that a reality i'd also mention that um over the past

00:18:07.100 two years i have been effectively doing this doing alex university as a you could say a kind of warm-up

00:18:16.060 a spring training for alex university with a group of supporters we have done very close readings

00:18:25.660 of plato's republic we've looked at nietzsche on on occasions we've read a bit of machiavelli we've

00:18:34.640 read kyle schmidt we've read the bible uh we've brought in people who have something to say on

00:18:41.560 these matters and um we have had a kind of university seminar uh these will usually um have the form of

00:18:51.820 i will um start out the lecture uh speak on a text for 45 minutes to an hour while getting you know

00:19:03.560 feedback from the group and then that will transition to open discussion and um these have been excellent

00:19:13.680 again we've we've done some serious classics in this way and i i feel like even you know two years ago

00:19:20.940 i i was convinced that this is what this is the kind of thing that we need to be doing

00:19:25.100 that you know my supporter group we get lost in the day-to-day um in reaction effectively and that

00:19:37.760 we need to start developing a major conception of who we are

00:19:44.280 and that can be achieved through interaction with great books and great ideas and that can be

00:19:55.580 best achieved in this seminar-like environment

00:19:58.460 so again for the time being seminars will take place via zoom if you sign up you will be given

00:20:07.400 should say when you sign up when you sign up you will be given a um repeating zoom meeting we'll do

00:20:15.680 once a week and we will follow that basic format of close reading i will offer a lecture i guess in

00:20:23.500 the literal sense of the word of reading um giving you my perspective on matters and of course you are

00:20:31.240 you know welcome and encouraged in fact to interact with that and question it uh and then we will have

00:20:39.380 a free-flowing discussion that i i think will be very productive and that can go wherever you want to

00:20:48.100 take it but i'll certainly be there to to guide things and interact with you

00:20:52.360 so i am extremely excited and this is the kind of thing that if i were a young person i shouldn't even

00:21:06.660 say a young person if i were an old person as well i would be enthusiastic to enroll in

00:21:13.020 and i'm not just saying that that is very true um you can see ideas like this

00:21:22.100 cropping up in other spheres perhaps most famously there's the university of austin

00:21:27.900 that is um that was initiated by i guess barry weiss and it has some famous right of center

00:21:35.780 professors who are involved with it to some degree i think niall ferguson is involved

00:21:39.560 which would be very interesting um they are obviously much better funded than i am so they

00:21:46.600 are starting out doing in person instruction and i i think it's great i mean again whatever you think

00:21:54.700 about that you can call it neocon university if you want i think that's probably unfair but you get it

00:21:59.580 you can you can say that's not for me but the fact is it's a good thing that this is happening

00:22:05.260 and this has been going along um for well over a decade now probably two in terms of technical skills

00:22:16.620 you know learn photoshop learn how to edit video whatever and that is a much better system for a an

00:22:27.240 adult in particular or a young person just starting out dipping his toe into things then giving someone

00:22:33.960 a hundred thousand dollars in finance and sending them off to a big university obviously that that is

00:22:39.780 just much better and i think it is time for us to to move in that way you know move into that sphere

00:22:49.280 in the intellectual realm and the humanities and uh in the case of ed the sciences

00:22:55.340 um because it's you know i i guess you will learn some skills i hope that you'll be a better reader

00:23:06.420 after working with me that you'll be able to dive into a text and dissect it and see various threads in

00:23:15.700 it kind of read against the grain i do hope to give you that skill

00:23:19.960 um but i i think the the main thing is just the expansion of your mind that is possible

00:23:30.340 with a program like this and which again is really absent from many people's lives and is

00:23:40.040 increasingly absent even within academia and that is a very sad thing

00:23:48.680 so anyway i hope you sign up um you can look at our uh our my blog i guess is the right word on

00:24:03.820 sub stack about this you can visit alexuniversity.online and you can enroll for courses you can pay with a

00:24:12.760 pay for it with a credit card right then and there it's very easy and after you sign up you'll be

00:24:18.100 you'll receive information on when these things are taking place

00:24:22.480 um they are going to start in mid-june so we actually have plenty of time to sign up

00:24:29.740 and so on um if you would like to ask a question um i would encourage you to contact me

00:24:43.080 at hello at alexuniversity.org hello at alexuniversity.org and i will respond to you

00:24:53.820 so anyway i might do a couple more podcasts on this subject because it's very interesting and it's

00:25:00.880 just deeply important to me and again it's the kind of thing that i would do if i were you

00:25:08.300 all right i'll leave it there and i will talk to you soon thanks

00:25:14.380 you

RadixJournal - May 11, 2022

ALEX university： What Are We Thinking!？

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