From: David Musick (David_Musick@msn.com)
Date: Thu Jan 02 1997 - 19:00:38 MST
John Clark said, "I think it's one of the great tragedies of History that the
rarest, most valuable quality that existed in the world was not used to full
advantage. Think what Newton could have accomplished if his mind had not been
caught in a infinite loop..."
This same valuable quality of genius exists in all minds, and rarely, if ever,
is it used to it's full advantage. Billions of people, all operating *far*
below their potential. This is no surprise, considering our society has not
organized itself to encourage and assist the development of genius in people.
Newton, as smart as he was, was probably an idiot compared to the potential of
the typical human. That the potential of billions of humans remains scarcely
tapped is the greatest tragedy of all time. This is the source of nearly all
of our problems.
One of my main plans for my life is to get together with a bunch of other
like-minded people and start a school whose main purpose is to train each
other and other people to be super-intelligent and highly productive. The
school will be very focused on teaching students how to develop a strong
personal discipline, so that they become autonomous and very effective
learners. The school will have a tremendous number of tools and resourses for
students to use, to create things and thus learn from experience, and as they
improve their skill at making things, they can begin selling what they make
and working with teams of other students to sell what they make and have their
own businesses, so that they can continue paying for their schooling, so it is
self-sustaining. Creating and running one's own business would be part of the
school and part of a much larger, life-long education.
I don't like the model of going to school for a few years then going out into
the "real world". I think it would be much safer and more productive to do
both simultaneously; to always be in school and always be doing productive
work, as part of one's education. A student will be learning a great deal
from running their own business, and they will also be developing other skills
and areas of knowledge outside of that, which they can eventually use for more
ambitious and challenging business ventures.
Grades and degrees are meaningless in this type of school since each student
is responsible for acheiving the results they want, and they will be receiving
constant feedback on how well they are doing. One doesn't need a degree to
"get a good job", since the point is to become a free agent and create one's
own business.
Of course, this type of school won't work for everyone (not yet anyway), since
it requires a high level of self-discipline, but there are many people for
whom it will work , such as myself. And, if I am right and very highly
productive and innovative people come out of these schools, more and more
people will be attracted to them or want to send their children to them.
I believe it's possible for most people to become highly skilled in many
different areas, to become an Ace of All Trades. I want to work with others
to create schools which train people to do this.
Imagine the power of billions of human minds unleashed. That is the vision
that drives me on.
- David Musick
-- We have no idea what we are capable of; no one has ever taken themselves
to the limits of human potential. --
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