6yo learning fractions with Synthesis. Teaching style is Socratic. Answer correctly, get increasingly challenging follow-up questions. Lover her proud face at 1:10. That justified pride in what you've learned is the best motivator. Far better than points or leaderboards.

Do the new math on this and you’ll understand why the renewed shrieking about a wealth tax.

TLDR: What lights you up?! Opener for our 1517 Summit: 25 years ago I started working with homeschoolers. Those families changed the trajectory of my life. It’s where I got to see that real learning starts with passion and curiosity. 16 years ago, when Michael and I were on the founding team of the Thiel Fellowship, we called it an older young person’s homeschool program. And today, with 1517, we say we homeschool CEOs. I think that there is a lot that we can learn from homeschoolers about going against the grain, following curiosity, and getting a sense of what real learning looks like. In homeschooling there is a concept called “deschooling” — a transition time between being in a more institutionalized setting, to one of their own creation. It sometimes looks chaotic, “unproductive,” and purposeless. But this time period is when people start unraveling assumptions that have been shaping their lives, without them knowing it. By letting go of the rules, natural curiosity and passion can start to emerge. Over the next ten years, I think all of us are going to go through something like a collective deschooling period. We’re going to need to unlearn the assumptions that were put down before us by other people and institutions, ride the chaos, and emerge through to the other side with passion and curiosity. The path used to look clear. Work hard. Get good grades. Collect credentials. Climb the ladder. Success had a map. But the world we're entering is uncharted. Artificial intelligence is making information abundant. Institutions are failing us. Careers are becoming less linear. Entire industries are appearing and disappearing in just a few years. The old question was: "What should I do?" But today, I propose a new question: “What lights you up, when no one is watching?” That's a much harder question. Many people discover that when the external structure disappears, they're left with an uncomfortable feeling. Not freedom. Not excitement. Meaninglessness. Because for years, meaning was outsourced. A syllabus told us what mattered. A test told us what to learn. A boss told us what success looked like. A credential told us we were progressing. But what happens when fewer and fewer people can tell you what matters next? I think that's one of the defining challenges of the next decade. And I think the antidote is surprisingly simple. Start dreaming: What is the thing you can't stop thinking about? What rabbit hole do you disappear into? What topic makes you lose track of time? What project would you work on, even if nobody was grading it? All summed up: What lights you up? When we're young, we're often taught to treat those interests as distractions from the "real" work. I think the opposite is true. Those interests are clues. They're pointing toward the place where your curiosity, your energy, and your contribution intersect. The people who will thrive in the next ten years will be like shining beacons! They'll be the people who know how to follow genuine curiosity. The people who can create their own path. The people who can stay fascinated. The people who know what lights them up and have the courage to build around it. So welcome to your summit. When you meet a new friend today, ask “What lights you up?” May the answers surprise and delight and lead you into your next 10 years.

So ducking frustrating.

Steve Jobs said you put on the TV and you think it's a conspiracy, they're trying to dumb people down. Then you get older and realize the situation is even worse: they're giving the people what they want. I think about that a lot.

There's a funny thing with AI where people pretend no other technology exists. He could have made this same argument and used books or YouTube in place of Claude.

Pope Leo grasps what 99% of tech commentators don't: "They may imitate or even simulate, but they do not understand what they produce." This is why I'm bearish on AI replacing knowledge workers. How valuable is a worker who does not understand?

Technology is good only insofar as it contributes to building happy households.

Ideal homeschool setup: The boy working through the Good and the Beautiful by hand. The girl doing Synthesis math on the iPad.

On the bright side, the next generation will have a genetic resistance to propaganda.

About 10 years ago, my friends elderly dad asked him how he sent so many links. He didn’t know about copy/paste. After my friend told him, he became an evangelist, asking everyone he knew “Have you heard about the copy and the paste?”

If you have to push your kids to do something, you might as well not. People win at what they're naturally drawn to anyway.

We all carry the unbearable burden of being the center of the universe. Then you have kids and that burden is lifted.

Identical expressions and language from Dana White and MJ. Both telling a story of someone underestimating them. "Ok. Let's find out."

If you have healthy kids and a wife who makes sourdough, that's about as good as life can get.

Look up the Harvard Grant study. The best predictor of success in any field is having a warm, loving mom. A mother’s love is the greatest blessing a person can have. Happy Mother’s Day. 💐

in other words, there is enough money and power at stake now that you have to assume everything you read about ai is paid propaganda.