turns out you can just invite people into a room on campus every sunday, tell them to build anything they're curious about, and incredible things can happen.
what a day today was. 25+ demos, 3 speeches, and the most contagious energy i've ever seen on this campus.
more to come.
1 day in sf and i’ve already:
- slept in a hacker house
- visited Tenderloin after dark
- watched barbie movie at 4x speed
- went to a house party with
@Grimezsz
am i doing it right?
trying to do more "work in public" IRL.
while coworking
@hulloitskai
and i put up an impromptu sign so that people will approach to chat about the programs we run for students.
will post later about if it's worth the trade-off: productivity vs. serendipitous conversations
Students have lost trust in college for learning.
They completely tune out right from lecture
#1
. I'm currently taking a 4th year course with ~20 people and nearly everyone is scrolling on their phone/laptop for most of class.
This is opposite to
@_buildspace
.
At buildspace,
currently trying a bunch of things to change the culture
@ubc
to be more ambitious and to give students agency.
this term my friends & i started:
- a coworking community
- project incubator
- workshops
- coaching chats
- blog
anything else we should try?
a guy asked about my
@_buildspace
sweater in a random cafe this morning. after a little conversation, i found out that he runs an art studio and wants to meet more people pursuing their own ideas.
so i told him about
@_nightsweekends
lots of people say they value “impact” and yet rarely get to see results from their actions on the people right in front of them.
yesterday we changed that.
every single demoer went to the front, a little shaky or unprepared, but with incredible energy towards the unique thing
turns out you can just invite people into a room on campus every sunday, tell them to build anything they're curious about, and incredible things can happen.
what a day today was. 25+ demos, 3 speeches, and the most contagious energy i've ever seen on this campus.
more to come.
I've always felt too afraid to share my creative work with others.
Hence why
@hulloitskai
and I started Atelier, a space to explore your curiosity — whatever it might be — with friends who can be just as silly and creative.
We just hosted the first session yesterday at UBC:
When we decided to bring Socratica to Vancouver in September, the organizers in Waterloo shared all their knowledge with us through back-and-forth conversation.
But now we've created a structured guide for anyone to host their own version of Socratica wherever they live:
Going for a walk with a friend is underrated when you're feeling lost or stuck.
Starting a new experiment: 40-min recorded walk & talks at UBC → receive AI-generated notes by the time you're home.
Book a walk with
@hulloitskai
or I by using the link in the comments :)
@nick_linck
what's the primary thing stopping them from building?
seems to mostly be a culture problem to me. we value the reputation that comes with university education too highly and the only high-reputation options outside of uni have a low likelihood of success (e.g. startups).
In January I started hosting a weekly class for students at my university to learn the product management & design mindset.
It started with just me and a few friends in a room with a whiteboard. But every week, more people showed up.
shoutout to my fellow hosts:
@hulloitskai
,
@lychkel
, seneca, ananya, yoran, james, (+
@kaisoapbox
who stepped up last minute to help)
and we wouldn't be where we're at now without the support of our friends in waterloo
@socraticainfo
<3
@kepano
I often look through my old notebooks and find ideas I was writing about that are surprisingly similar to what I'm thinking now.
That's how I know it matters: I naturally return to the thought, months later.
A trend in productivity & collaboration apps: 2-dimensional spaces.
•
@obsdmd
: canvas feature for 2d note arrangement
•
@figma
@MiroHQ
: 2d whiteboard with API integrations
•
@gather_town
@KosyOffice
: meet together in a 2d world
2d interaction feels more natural.
Obsidian 1.1 is now available to insiders ✨
The new Canvas view allows you to organize notes visually — an infinite space to brainstorm, diagram and lay out your ideas
Works great for mind maps, flow charts, org charts, moodboards, family trees. You can even embed web pages 😊
@lexfridman
@Spotify
have you seen
@therealprady
doing this for all youtube videos?
he even syncs the lips to make it look like you're speaking the language:
I built the simplest way to convert your video to other languages.
all you need is a youtube link. no install required.
curious? check out
@lexfridman
+ zuck talking about
@elonmusk
in hindi.
The best part of class was students surprising me by asking questions, presenting something creative, or sticking around after the session for conversation.
All motivated by pure curiosity. Not for grades—there weren’t any.
Learning driven by curiosity outperforms all else.
“It’s like school, but I actually want to be here.”
It didn’t take long for students to realize that learning doesn’t require lecture format.
In fact, I hardly needed to prepare materials. Most of my prep came from years of unstructured exploration and testing of the concepts.
@socraticainfo
@b_ptrsn
and we're expanding :)
right now there's a socratica presence in waterloo, vancouver, toronto, ottawa, london, kingston, berkeley, boston, cambridge, and oxford — all meeting weekly!
@skeptrune
Depends what you think its goal is.
Colleges promise courses and degrees, which they provide. Some courses are even quite phenomenal (dependent on the professor).
But if college's goal is getting you a job, it's pretty awful at that. Even Computer Science majors know this: they
@bobby_housel
Yup. I've seen so many young people enter college wanting to explore and have an impact, but by the end of their first year they can only think about grades or internships. There's something about the culture at college that discourages curiosity and incentivizes conformity.
trying to do more "work in public" IRL.
while coworking
@hulloitskai
and i put up an impromptu sign so that people will approach to chat about the programs we run for students.
will post later about if it's worth the trade-off: productivity vs. serendipitous conversations
@emanperez28
There's nothing better than this feeling.
When friends ask about the best moments of my year, it's hard to explain. No, it wasn't my time trying new cuisine or being a tourist in a new city. There's something even more fulfilling...
And now you've given me the words for it.
@mattiapomelli
@_buildspace
@_nightsweekends
There needs to be more tools like this that help builders share what they're up to, since most of us don't want to be too distracted by social media
@Ankur_Boyed
@nick_linck
the fact that there are no other "valid" paths for people who just want to build things is sad. i'm glad
@nick_linck
is working on it ;)
@eriklangille
@ansonyuu
lately i've been recording long Loom videos of me working on projects. it helps because i trick myself into thinking that i might send it to someone
@LearningToan
@SumayLu
@WEquilSchool
And for
@JoeWEquil
: At what age, and to what degree, should we give our children learning autonomy? What would you want to tell other parents who are skeptical?
(A great book on this: The Self-Driven Child.)
@AaronPTweets
We need college alternatives that think bigger than just the content that is taught. The community aspect is extremely valuable. Hence why I love
@socraticainfo
:)
@varoonkodithala
probably in the minority here but i don’t follow the news directly but get occasional updates from friends sending links or podcasts discussing topics, which i then research myself if i’m interested.
@aamir1rasheed
@_buildspace
I would definitely try this. I believe there's a lot of valuable content online that is not read anymore just because it's not new
@iamalexhu
Makes sense. I try to do as little university work as possible (it turns out not much is needed to pass courses) so that I can get my degree -> move to the U.S. in the future. That's basically the only reason I'm still in university rn
@VineethSendil
@_borombo
I just use iOS voice memos right now because it's free and easy to access from my macbook, but am looking for something better
I think these apps feel more natural because our brains are made for perceiving space.
"The concept of space serves as the organizing principle by which we perceive and interpret the world, even in abstract ways."
@LearningToan
Thanks for letting me join in the conversation,
@LearningToan
! This is a topic I could discuss for hours.
I enjoyed hearing about the real-world impact that
@SumayLu
’s
@WEquilSchool
is making for homeschoolers through curiosity-driven learning.
Let me know how I can help out!