Well, I think that in distribution, it might honestly be easier to just send a really clear and broad signal of "we like to build things" by showcasing really cool projects around town to everyone around. This is something I'm not quite sure about, but this leans more on my medium-long term plans compared to my short term plans.
My short term plans are to put all my eggs in one basket and go 100% after freshmen on campus, basically the moment they end up in town.
Freshmen have the luxury of having the most time, and have not yet lost their spark*
And hands-on opportunities for freshman are rare and few in between. It's basically a match made in heaven really.
* We've noticed that many upper classmen who used to build things in high school often get caught up with school, work and life and their exponential arcs slow significantly. It's either that or they've typically already found something interesting to them that they dedicate their time to and would have to give up to spend time at the makerspace.
Great job, Ismail Amazing. I'd be interested in your experiment about teaching agency. From my experience, you can inspire but rarely motivate people to do something. Super curious about that.
Right. It doesn't work for everyone. Not even close. It's a very small percentage of people. But what's nice is these people tend to self-select. I've found that the best candidates for this are the ones who can right off the bat establish routine times, multiple days a week, of coming in and doing something, however small it may be and then they compound.
I think that self-selection might honestly be the broadest theme in this whole game here. Sure, we as a makerspace, will gladly take just about anyone's money and let them in. But the people who choose to stay in and routinely come in are a much smaller group and much more aligned to what we're after. The thing about talent is you have to sift through a lot of hay to find the needles and if you make it difficult for the hay to get in by arbitrarily restricting access via applications, you also make it more difficult for the needles to get in as well and lose out massively.
It almost exactly mimics a normal curve. As the number of members grows, we'll begin to see a normal distribution of times people spend, and the number of projects people pursue, and the general desire to build things.
I almost hate to compare it to this, but it's similar to a VC fund. Mostly the companies that get funded fail to reach a sufficient revenue stream ( funding stages kinda obscure things) enough to pay back the amount of money raised, but one company will be so big that it'll pay for the whole fund.
That's similar to the kinds of bets I'm placing here. I'm just waiting for the handful of engineers and crackheads who will come and make the whole batch of students pay off. What that payoff looks like? I have no idea, but it'll be glorious, and we'll know it when we see it.
One thing I’ve found is that people tend to perceive agency within themselves as immoral. If they act as smart as they actually are, they worry it will make the people around them insecure, so they play dumb. Then they justify it to themselves as not wanting to be arrogant or have too much of an ego.
In moderation, ego is a fun game to play, and it can really boost intrinsic motivation. Also, if you have a personality/sense of self, it’s a lot easier to make friends and to think critically/think for yourself.
The question I would have asked myself back in the LRI days would be this: how can we make our people less humble? To be valuable, you first have to believe that you are valuable. To challenge society where you think it’s wrong, you first have to think you’re right (or at least less wrong than they are). Creativity is a challenge to society--it needs enemies, and it needs a narrative
The lack of agency that we see in the world today is similar to politicians’ inability to make a decision. Once one makes a decision, one makes oneself into a potential scapegoat. Analogously, it’s a lot easier to say/believe you’re a good person if you never do anything. On the other hand, if you do something, you might make a mistake, or you might hurt someone around you.
It sounds bad, but to me the easiest way around this is to get people to focus on other things than just “being a good person.” There’s a lot more to life than empty moral platitudes.
Bigger problem in today’s day and age as many no longer have religion as a relief valve for the buildup of existential guilt.
I also agree about possibly staying on campus after college. Why not? It's chill, lots of cool people, cheap, and infrastructure to build stuff but unless there are serious companies or serious research, that's tough to stay.
It's fascinating. There's definitely a small group of people trying to kickstart more business in the area, but it really would solve a lot of issues for the town and colleges in general.
Like for rocket teams, so many people complain of brain drain. If there's a sufficiently strong economy in the city, the brain drain becomes suddenly way less of an issue. It's honestly rather easy to build in a small city as the mayor, and city council is relatively easy to reach and local politics are fairly noncompetitive. So it's very possible that, at some point in the future, it may be advantageous to become a force in local politics.
"It may be just as simple as every single member having a wiki entry with specialties and knowledge that you can search so you know who to speak to regarding questions. I have a mental database of who knows what, so I guess I serve as a librarian. Some of our more active members also know, but it’s important that that knowledge be more accessible so we can really become a scenius. Our classes are an excellent way of doing that, but not yet vast enough or extensive enough at all."
This is a great idea if we can get participation. Being able to search for people who have the skills you need. And letting people find you if you have a talent that can be shared.
How are you thinking about distribution to send the right signals to the right people? Ian learned a lot about this last year.
Well, I think that in distribution, it might honestly be easier to just send a really clear and broad signal of "we like to build things" by showcasing really cool projects around town to everyone around. This is something I'm not quite sure about, but this leans more on my medium-long term plans compared to my short term plans.
My short term plans are to put all my eggs in one basket and go 100% after freshmen on campus, basically the moment they end up in town.
Freshmen have the luxury of having the most time, and have not yet lost their spark*
And hands-on opportunities for freshman are rare and few in between. It's basically a match made in heaven really.
* We've noticed that many upper classmen who used to build things in high school often get caught up with school, work and life and their exponential arcs slow significantly. It's either that or they've typically already found something interesting to them that they dedicate their time to and would have to give up to spend time at the makerspace.
Yes!! And helping them avoid get trapped in clubs an other random bs
Great job, Ismail Amazing. I'd be interested in your experiment about teaching agency. From my experience, you can inspire but rarely motivate people to do something. Super curious about that.
Can't wait to visit THE STARFORGE.
Right. It doesn't work for everyone. Not even close. It's a very small percentage of people. But what's nice is these people tend to self-select. I've found that the best candidates for this are the ones who can right off the bat establish routine times, multiple days a week, of coming in and doing something, however small it may be and then they compound.
I think that self-selection might honestly be the broadest theme in this whole game here. Sure, we as a makerspace, will gladly take just about anyone's money and let them in. But the people who choose to stay in and routinely come in are a much smaller group and much more aligned to what we're after. The thing about talent is you have to sift through a lot of hay to find the needles and if you make it difficult for the hay to get in by arbitrarily restricting access via applications, you also make it more difficult for the needles to get in as well and lose out massively.
It almost exactly mimics a normal curve. As the number of members grows, we'll begin to see a normal distribution of times people spend, and the number of projects people pursue, and the general desire to build things.
I almost hate to compare it to this, but it's similar to a VC fund. Mostly the companies that get funded fail to reach a sufficient revenue stream ( funding stages kinda obscure things) enough to pay back the amount of money raised, but one company will be so big that it'll pay for the whole fund.
That's similar to the kinds of bets I'm placing here. I'm just waiting for the handful of engineers and crackheads who will come and make the whole batch of students pay off. What that payoff looks like? I have no idea, but it'll be glorious, and we'll know it when we see it.
Exciting!
speaking of seeing starforge. You should come visit sometime this fall. Maybe when Ian gets back, ya'll can do a group trip?
I like thst let's do it.
I met a texas AM student the other day and was like you must VISIT STARFORGE!!!!!!!! Who knows he might come haha
amazing. what whas his name? I might reach out to him.
It was a short interaction and didnt get his name I asked if he knew you guys and was like you.def need to.
He's from Norway, he's into Aerospace. I Believe he'll be a sophomore or junior
One thing I’ve found is that people tend to perceive agency within themselves as immoral. If they act as smart as they actually are, they worry it will make the people around them insecure, so they play dumb. Then they justify it to themselves as not wanting to be arrogant or have too much of an ego.
In moderation, ego is a fun game to play, and it can really boost intrinsic motivation. Also, if you have a personality/sense of self, it’s a lot easier to make friends and to think critically/think for yourself.
The question I would have asked myself back in the LRI days would be this: how can we make our people less humble? To be valuable, you first have to believe that you are valuable. To challenge society where you think it’s wrong, you first have to think you’re right (or at least less wrong than they are). Creativity is a challenge to society--it needs enemies, and it needs a narrative
The lack of agency that we see in the world today is similar to politicians’ inability to make a decision. Once one makes a decision, one makes oneself into a potential scapegoat. Analogously, it’s a lot easier to say/believe you’re a good person if you never do anything. On the other hand, if you do something, you might make a mistake, or you might hurt someone around you.
It sounds bad, but to me the easiest way around this is to get people to focus on other things than just “being a good person.” There’s a lot more to life than empty moral platitudes.
Bigger problem in today’s day and age as many no longer have religion as a relief valve for the buildup of existential guilt.
Most people do not have a well developed sense of self.
Self is a set of values.
Self is what we believe and are willing to stand for.
Outside of faith people decide to either conceive values from scratch.
Questioning each one by one.
Or they default to concieved values of their peers and society.
Values often projected by those who can shout highest from the rooftops.
The question then becomes how does one develop self?
You simply explore.
There is no other alternative.
There's likely a deep rooted biological need for exploration deeply embedded in our brains.
It's why childhood is so long for our species.
It's what makes us so flexible.
A sense of self isn't required for modern day living.
It doesn't require a sense of self to obey orders, graduate school and get a job.
You can live your whole life without ever finding yourself.
Many do.
Agentic people have a well developed self.
If not well developed, they are in search.
We know something is wrong.
We know something is missing.
The answer to what is missing is found in the sense of self.
That is the root of agency.
It is the root of creativity.
It is the root of what sets humans apart from animals.
I've decided to abandon paragraphs.
Writing one sentence on a line helps me digest information better.
Especially for more complex thoughts.
It's more easily queriable as well.
Each sentence must stand on it's own, independent of the wall of text.
-Ismail.
I also agree about possibly staying on campus after college. Why not? It's chill, lots of cool people, cheap, and infrastructure to build stuff but unless there are serious companies or serious research, that's tough to stay.
It's fascinating. There's definitely a small group of people trying to kickstart more business in the area, but it really would solve a lot of issues for the town and colleges in general.
Like for rocket teams, so many people complain of brain drain. If there's a sufficiently strong economy in the city, the brain drain becomes suddenly way less of an issue. It's honestly rather easy to build in a small city as the mayor, and city council is relatively easy to reach and local politics are fairly noncompetitive. So it's very possible that, at some point in the future, it may be advantageous to become a force in local politics.
Yes!! Start a big company and then get involved
"It may be just as simple as every single member having a wiki entry with specialties and knowledge that you can search so you know who to speak to regarding questions. I have a mental database of who knows what, so I guess I serve as a librarian. Some of our more active members also know, but it’s important that that knowledge be more accessible so we can really become a scenius. Our classes are an excellent way of doing that, but not yet vast enough or extensive enough at all."
This is a great idea if we can get participation. Being able to search for people who have the skills you need. And letting people find you if you have a talent that can be shared.
It’ll need to become basically a google form filled upon signup and revisited yearly ish. Something like that.