Aug. 14, 2025
Michael Gibson & Danielle Strachman — The 1517 Rebellion (EP.279)
Michael Gibson and Danielle Strachman, co-founders of 1517 Fund, join the show to discuss their rebellion against higher education, why universities stifle creativity, why IQ doesn't correlate with innovation, and how betting on "misfit toys" is the way to go—plus we explore Girardian mimesis, the perishable nature of creativity, the laziness of pessimistic storytelling and MORE!
I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!”, check out our Substack.
Important Links:
Show Notes:
- Why 1517 Fund Rebels Against Higher Education
- Giving Individuals a Shot
- “It’s cool to be building stuff, it’s not cool to be a Thiel Fellow”
- The ‘ATM Founder’ and ‘Rich Too Early’ Syndrome
- The Power of Predictive Character Traits
- Flipping Credentialist Thinking
- "How do we become Spielberg? How do we do something truly great?"
- Simple Memes and Powerful Narratives
- Avoiding a Monoculture of Misfits
- The Incestuous Universities Scene
- Choosing Your Own Path
- People Contain Multitudes
- Michael and Danielle as World Emperor and Empress
Books & Essays Mentioned:
- A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age; by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman
- Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions; by Todd Rose
- "A Gift for My Daughter"; by Harry Browne (Full text available here)
- Paper Belt on Fire; by Michael Gibson
- The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation; by Jon Gertner
- The Right Stuff; by Tom Wolfe
- The Status Game; by Will Storr
- The Two Cultures; by C.P. Snow
- What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
- White Mirror: Stories; by Tinkered Thinking
- Zero to One; by Peter Thiel
- The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley; by Jimmy Soni
- Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar; by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman
- How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World; by Harry Browne
