How Governments Can Run VC Funds The public should get equity in businesses that take government funding. No more free-money bailouts for billionaires. Public VC funds share in the upside when the startups they fund succeed. This incentivizes governments to invest more in earlier-stage startups. Public VC is a renewable economic resource. Successful investments inContinue reading “Public Ventures”
Author Archives: Neil Thanedar
UMICH 2050
Replace Student Loans: 0% Interest ISAs for All Students. Reinvent Our Education: Get Ready for the Future of Work Now. College tuition has risen over 150% in the last twenty years. Tuition is the #1 fastest growing consumer expense in America. Tuition is growing over three times faster than inflation. Colleges are not preparing graduatesContinue reading “UMICH 2050”
Real Real GDP
A woman in Coldwater, Michigan works 60 hours a week for $8.50 per hour ($510/week). Minimum wage is increased to $15 per hour. The same woman now works 34 hours a week for $15 per hour ($510/week). Answer: Nothing. That 26 hours per week goes into childcare and housework and, yes, leisure. But GDP doesn’tContinue reading “Real Real GDP”
Hidden Ambition
We’re scared of losing, but we’re terrified of being called a loser. We grew up watching elementary school bullies pick on the “nerds”. If you’re like me, you were usually the target of the teasing. It’s easy to internalize the idea that being ambitious isn’t cool. Social media is full of bullies making fun ofContinue reading “Hidden Ambition”
You Have To Make Life Meaningful
They’ll summarize your life into a few words, sentences, or paragraphs. The family you created, the friends you made, the things you did. In those words are the meaning of your life. Life’s secret is that these words aren’t predetermined. We get to pick these words through our actions now. We have to make ourContinue reading “You Have To Make Life Meaningful”
Utopic Club
🌎 Changing the world. 🚀 Ideas for new inventions. 🧑🔬 Science that saves lives. 💸 Maximizing effective altruism. Examples: Platonic Academy, Bloomsbury Group, The Factory. What clubs like this exist now? It’s easy to predict that an ambitious project will fail. We choose to be optimistic not because it is easy, but because it isContinue reading “Utopic Club”
Ambitious Optimists
We need a new era of ambitious optimism. Summary: Idea: Convince more ambitious optimists to solve the World’s Biggest Problems. Problem: Too many people now think it’s “cool” to be cynical. Solution: Organize the world’s ambitious optimists! Why: Ambitious optimism is self-fulfilling. Mission: Make Life Utopic For All! History: Kennedy’s “We choose to go toContinue reading “Ambitious Optimists”
Pax Internet
Old: Convince governments, and people will follow. New: Convince people, and governments will follow. When President Zelenskyy posts videos online, his audience isn’t just his citizens and his enemies. We’re all his audience. We’re all his potential supporters. The power of enough people supersedes the power of any government. China, India, USA, North Korea, andContinue reading “Pax Internet”
Everyday Activism
Fuck The Cynics
When did it become “cool” to be cynical? I think it started May 1, 2003: A whole generation has grown up expecting their leaders to lie to them. Conspiracy theories have gone mainstream: I’m not saying there are no wolves out here. But please stop crying wolf every time. The worst kind of cynicism isContinue reading “Fuck The Cynics”