15000 hours: how to take control of your life and build the future
TRANSCRIPT
15,000 HOURS
WHY ARE WE HERE?
We believe there can be a better future.
WHY ARE WE HERE?
We believe there can be a better future.
We believe that we can build our futures and the future of the world around us.
WHY ARE WE HERE?
We believe there can be a better future.
We believe that we can build our futures and the future of the world around us.
But…how?
WHERE DO WE WANT TO GO, AND WHAT IS KEEPING US FROM GOING THERE?
BUILDING THE FUTURE — DESTINATION
We need some ways we can think about the future.
Optimistic/Pessimistic
Definite/Indefinite
BUILDING THE FUTURE — DESTINATION
We need some ways we can think about the future.
Optimistic/Pessimistic
Definite/Indefinite
BUILDING THE FUTURE — DESTINATION
We need some ways we can think about the future.
Optimistic/Pessimistic
Definite/Indefinite
BUILDING THE FUTURE
Definite Indefinite
Optimist United States, 1950-1970
United States, present
Pessimist China, present Europe, present
BUILDING THE FUTURE
Definite Indefinite
Optimist ? Most Candidates
Pessimist Donald Trump Bernie Sanders
BUILDING THE FUTURE — ORDER
How should a future be organized?
Hayek gives us two ways:
Constructed
Spontaneous
BUILDING THE FUTURE — ORDER
Constructed Order
The USSR, Communist China, Nazi Germany
There’s a central command that gets to decide where everything is going.
BUILDING THE FUTURE — ORDER
Spontaneous Order
Free Markets
There’s no central command determining where things are going — there is order, but it arises from thousands and millions of individual choices.
WHERE DO WE WANT TO GO, AND WHAT IS KEEPING US FROM GOING THERE?
BUILDING THE FUTURE — DESTINATION + ORDER
Society Individuals
Spontaneous Order
Constructivist Order
Definite Any technological revolution
Space-race USSR Modern-day
China
Indefinite Great Stagnation United States
European Welfare Nightmare
WHERE DO WE WANT TO GO, AND WHAT IS KEEPING US FROM GOING THERE?
WHAT IS THE ONE CONSTANT ACROSS THIS GENERATION?
BUILDING THE FUTURE — DESTINATION + ORDER
Society Individuals
Spontaneous Order
Constructivist Order
Definite Any technological revolution
Space-race USSR Modern-day
China
Indefinite Great Stagnation United States
European Welfare Nightmare
— Peter Thiel, Zero to One
“Indefinite attitudes to the future explain what’s most dysfunctional in our world today. Process trumps substance:
when people lack concrete plans to carry out, they use formal rules to assemble a portfolio of various options. This
describes Americans today. In middle school, we’re encouraged to start hoarding “extracurricular activities.” In
high school, ambitious students compete even harder to appear omnicompetent. By the time a student gets to college, he’s spent a decade curating a bewilderingly
diverse résumé to prepare for a completely unknowable future. Come what may, he’s ready—for nothing in
particular.”
15,000 HOURS
School monopolizes 15,000 hours of a young person’s life.
SCHOOLING AS A MINDSET
The Seven Lessons of Schooling*:
John Taylor Gatto, NY Teacher of the Year, 1991
*From John Taylor Gatto, “The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher”
SCHOOLING AS A MINDSET
The Seven Lessons of Schooling*:
1. Confusion
John Taylor Gatto, NY Teacher of the Year, 1991
*From John Taylor Gatto, “The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher”
SCHOOLING AS A MINDSET
The Seven Lessons of Schooling*:
1. Confusion
2. Class PositionJohn Taylor Gatto,
NY Teacher of the Year, 1991
*From John Taylor Gatto, “The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher”
SCHOOLING AS A MINDSET
The Seven Lessons of Schooling*:
1. Confusion
2. Class Position
3. Indifference John Taylor Gatto, NY Teacher of the Year, 1991
*From John Taylor Gatto, “The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher”
SCHOOLING AS A MINDSET
The Seven Lessons of Schooling*:
1. Confusion
2. Class Position
3. Indifference
4. Emotional Dependence
John Taylor Gatto, NY Teacher of the Year, 1991
*From John Taylor Gatto, “The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher”
SCHOOLING AS A MINDSET
The Seven Lessons of Schooling*:
1. Confusion
2. Class Position
3. Indifference
4. Emotional Dependence
5. Intellectual Dependence
John Taylor Gatto, NY Teacher of the Year, 1991
*From John Taylor Gatto, “The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher”
SCHOOLING AS A MINDSET
The Seven Lessons of Schooling*:
1. Confusion
2. Class Position
3. Indifference
4. Emotional Dependence
5. Intellectual Dependence
6. Provisional Self-Esteem
John Taylor Gatto, NY Teacher of the Year, 1991
*From John Taylor Gatto, “The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher”
SCHOOLING AS A MINDSET
The Seven Lessons of Schooling*:
1. Confusion
2. Class Position
3. Indifference
4. Emotional Dependence
5. Intellectual Dependence
6. Provisional Self-Esteem
7. One Can’t Hide
John Taylor Gatto, NY Teacher of the Year, 1991
*From John Taylor Gatto, “The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher”
15,000 HOURS: RECLAIMING YOUR LIFE
Schooling affects us all in ways that are difficult to see.
15,000 HOURS: RECLAIMING YOUR LIFE
Schooling affects us all in ways that are difficult to see.
There is an imperative to deschool:
15,000 HOURS: RECLAIMING YOUR LIFE
Schooling affects us all in ways that are difficult to see.
There is an imperative to deschool:
Students, graduates, employees
15,000 HOURS: RECLAIMING YOUR LIFE
Schooling affects us all in ways that are difficult to see.
There is an imperative to deschool:
Students, graduates, employees
Employers, investors, innovators
15,000 HOURS: RECLAIMING YOUR LIFE
Schooling affects us all in ways that are difficult to see.
There is an imperative to deschool:
Students, graduates, employees
Employers, investors, innovators
Personal happiness, quality of life, seeing opportunities
DESCHOOLING YOURSELF
DESCHOOLING YOURSELF
Schooling != Education
DESCHOOLING YOURSELF
Schooling != Education
Pursue something you truly love.
DESCHOOLING YOURSELF
Schooling != Education
Pursue something you truly love.
Your Identity != your major, your school, your job
DESCHOOLING YOURSELF
Schooling != Education
Pursue something you truly love.
Your Identity != your major, your school, your job
How do you create value? How is value created?
DESCHOOLING YOURSELF
Schooling != Education
Pursue something you truly love.
Your Identity != your major, your school, your job
How do you create value? How is value created?
Stop asking for permission!
DESCHOOLING YOURSELF
Entrepreneurial Thinking and Living
Entrepreneurship requires definite, optimistic living in a spontaneous order.
Entrepreneurship requires active learning.
Entrepreneurship can build self-esteem, emotional/intellectual independence, and definite living.
DESCHOOLING … SOCIETY?
Parenting
Home education
Alternative schools
Create the hidden paths.
DESCHOOLING YOURSELF
Set a destination and build a path to get there.
“The road doesn’t have to be indefinite after all. Take the hidden paths.”
― Peter Thiel, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
FURTHER READING
Peter Thiel, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, Or How to Build the Future
John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
John Holt, How Children Learn
Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
http://zakslayback.com/2015/04/27/a-deschooling-reading-list-for-starters/
CONTACT ME
discoverpraxis.com
slayback.xyz
@zslayback