In the USA 70% of people have less than $1000 in savings, 50% of marriages end in divorce, and 60% of the population is overweight or obese.
From these stats, it’s probably not too arrogant to think that what ‘most people’ do and believe isn’t working.
Legendary venture capitalist Peter Thiel has an interview question he likes to ask ‘what do you believe to be true, that most others disagree with’.
It’s an interesting question, one that does a good job of assessing a candidates ability to think from first principles, rather than just follow the herd.
Peter Thiel wants people who don’t do what ‘most people’ do.
I went through quite an enjoyable exercise this week of writing out all the beliefs I hold that are somewhat controversial,
you can check them out here. Maybe you’ll find the exercise fun too, after all, our character is defined far more by the things we disagree with common viewpoints on, rather than the ones we agree with. You can find an extract from the article below.
On Education
The value school adds is 50% childcare, 30% socialisation & 20% education. Low financial incentives for teachers means the best minds are not attracted to the profession.
Technology will leverage 1:1000 rather than 1:30 learning. Teachers will become superstars and will be compensated accordingly.
The highest achieving children will aim towards becoming teachers.
On Free Will
Free will doesn’t exist, though it certainly feels like it does.If you rewound your life 10 minutes, or 10 years, how could anything turn out differently?
One argument against free will is chaos theory, the notion that electrons, and therefore life, move randomly. But randomness is not an argument against predeterminism.
Ironically, theoretically knowing this in no ways effects the illusion you are in control.
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