Category Archives: Life Philosophy

Unknown's avatar

A quest for learning – summer 2013

by

This summer, I embark on an epic quest. With 8 students from MIT and UC Berkeley, I’m cycling 4,000 miles from San Francisco to Washington. Along our journey, we will teach hands-on science classes to a total of 1,000 high-school students on topics we deeply care about, organized as “Learning Festivals”.

Classes range from “How to build a heliostat solar panel?” to “How does the brain work?”. Each Learning Festival will end with a session in which we invite students to work on their own ideas. The goal of our journey is to let children experience the joy of learning and the power of turning ideas into reality.

Updates

For email updates of the highlights of our journey (2x per month), please leave your information here. I keep another blog during the summer, please find it here. 

A demo class in Amsterdam

A demo class in Amsterdam

How can you help? 

Thank you for taking the effort of reading this page! There are several ways in which you can help:

(1) We are looking for teaching locations across the country (see the map below). Are you in touch with school teachers, librarians or summer camp leaders along our route? Please introduce us, spokes [at] mit [dot] edu!

(2) We will be camping all the way. Do you have friends who live along the path, who are happy to host 8 students for a meal or a night? Please introduce us, spokes [at] mit [dot] edu!

(3) This journey will lead into a structural organization to support children in developing their own ideas beyond summer. Do you want to work on or fund the future of hands-on learning? Definitely reach out, spokes [at] mit [dot] edu!

Team

Along our journey, we are supported by a large team of web designers, educators and funders. During our trip, we will be 8: 6 MIT students, 1 UC Berkeley student and myself .

Our team of 8

Our team of 8

Curriculum

1. COMPUTERS, ART:  The algorithmic beauty of plants

Do you like computers, plants, or art? How about the intersection of all three? In this course, we explore the recursive structure of plants and learn how to make pretty pictures of trees, flowers, and abstract fractal-like patterns using a clever technique called L-systems. Everyone will have a chance to create their own computer-generated works of art inspired by life.

2. NEUROSCIENCE, GAMES:  EyeWire: a game to map the brain

EyeWire is a puzzle-meets-coloring book online game that enables its players to contribute to the brain mapping initiative, which was announced by President Obama in March. Developed in part by one of the Spokes teachers in the Seung Lab at MIT, the game teaches its players how to trace the “branches” of neurons through 3D reconstructions of brain tissue. To do this task, players “spot check” computer algorithms, with the ultimate goal of obtaining a connectivity map with synaptic-scale resolution of the “connectome.”

3. ENERGY, CONTROL SYSTEMS:  Build your own solar panel heliostat

Through assembling their own solar panel heliostat, students will gain insight into the fundamental working or energy from renewables. This class combines knowledge in mechanical engineering (designing a technical system), computer science (programming an arduino) and electrical engineering (soldering the board).

4. FOOD, GARDENING:  How to grow your own vegetables: inside, for free!

Don’t you wish you know how to make your own delicious food? With a few old plastic gutters, a handful of plant seeds and a bit of daily care, you will grow your own veggies in no-time! Add in a few quick and easy recipes, and you will be the most popular chef in your high school – period.

5. MUSIC, PHYSICS:  The Science of Music

Music has been called the universal language. In some sense its building blocks of rhythm, harmony, and melody arise from the nature of the human mind. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions! Come learn about the math, physics, and psychology behind the music we love and how to take a scientific approach to solving its mysteries.

Journey

Our route from San Francisco to DC

Our route from San Francisco to DC

Partners

Spokes_Partners_1

My class

The class I will teach is called: “Grow your own vegetables – the joy of making what you’re eating”. I have created an entire outline of my class (using pictures, very few words) here.

See you in DC!

See you in DC!

Unknown's avatar

Fear: false evidence appearing real

by

Do you ever have a voice inside your head that tells you that you are not good enough to start your company; not good enough to sell to a new customer; not good enough to solve a difficult math problem? This is the voice of self-doubt, judging and fear – also called “the resistance” by Steven Pressfield.

It is easy to think this voice is your own – it speaks in your own head, after all. Once you recognize this voice does not encompass “you”, you can act when fear strikes.

The next time you hear a voice inside your head saying “You’re not good enough” or “This will never work”, imagine this voice comes from a friend inside your head. Say “Thank you for the advice, feel free to speak more, but you are not the one calling decisions.” The voice will not (maybe never) disappear. But, by realizing that the voice does not make decisions for you, you can start acting in the face of reality.

Writing down the advice was inspired by Justin Rosenstein, who speaks about this topic in his talk at Stanford Entrepreneurship Ventures. [Podcast here]

 

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

– Frank Herbert

Unknown's avatar

On the Good Life

by

If a man ascended into heaven and gazed upon the whole workings of the universe and the beauty stars, the marvelous sight would give him no joy if he had to keep it for himself

– old Roman saying.

I had the pleasure to spend the last weekends traveling Europe. In Zurich, Belgium and London, I found myself surrounded by beautiful friends who truly made me feel at home. What would life be without friends? Below some reflections taken from Cicero’s “On the Good Life”:

Friendship can only exist between two good men.

When a man thinks of a true friend, he is looking at himself in the mirror. Even when a friend is absent, he is present all the same. However poor he is, he is rich: however weak, he is strong. […] Even when he is dead, he is still alive. He is alive because his friends still cherish him, and remember him, and long for him. This means that there is happiness even in his death – he ennobles the existences of those who are left behind.

A good man is attracted by other good men; he wants to annex them for himself.

Scipio’s greatest wish was that all his friends should gain, not lose, in stature because of their association with himself.

You ought to give each of your friends just as much assistance as you have the capacity to provide.

Unknown's avatar

What is happiness?

by

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life. All that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.

by Albert Einstein

Projects that we care about allow us to live life in full intensity. We spend too much of our time on things that are insignificant looking years back. I want to try to govern my actions by a simple, powerful question: “Is this everlasting?”.

Unknown's avatar

What to do?

by

Dear Michael,

Thank you very much for your recent letter concerning “thinkers and doers.”

The things to do are: the things that need doing: that you see need to be done, and that no one else seems to see need to be done-that no one else has told you to do or how to do it. This will bring out the real you that often gets buried inside a character that has acquired a superficial array of behaviors induced or imposed by others on the individual.

Try making experiments of anything you conceive and are intensely interested in. Don’t be disappointed if something doesn’t work. That is what you want to know-the truth about everything-and then the truth about combinations of things. Some combinations have such logic and integrity that they can work coherently despite non-working elements embraced by their system.

Whenever you come to a word with which you are not familiar, find it in the dictionary and write a sentence which uses that new word. Words are tools-and once you have learned how to use a tool you will never forget it. Just looking for the meaning of the word is not enough. If your vocabulary is comprehensive, you can comprehend both fine and large patterns of experience.

You have what is most important in life-initiative. Because of it you wrote to me. I am answering to the best of my capability. You will find the world responding to your earnest initiative.

Sincerely yours,

Buckminster Fuller

From Buckminster Fuller’s introduction to Critical Path

Unknown's avatar

Samsara – repeating circle of birth, life, death and rebirth

by


Samsara is the single-most important movie to see before the end of winter.

A sequence of beautiful fragments of film, Samsara is awe-inspiring and mystical. The movie is fireworks for your eyes and ears.

Beyond its incredible aesthetics, the film shows how bizarre our world is. We have created harmful systems everywhere around us by optimizing system design for the wrong factors. Decades from now, our bodies, wealth and status will have disappeared. If we can give full attention to the world around us and channel our inventiveness and passion from creating killingry to livingry, we can create a world that is good for others. If we work hard and succeed, maybe we can make a movie called Nirvana not too long from now.

Nothing but respect to the artists who overcame fear and stayed committed for 5 years to ship this incredible movie.

Unknown's avatar

Gratitude

by

Upon my 24th birthday, here is a list of 24 things I am grateful for:

  • People
  • (The wonderful people around the world whom I call) Friends
  • A caring, closely connected family
  • My ability to prepare a healthy, wholesome, tasty meal
  • The marvelous journeys I have made across the earth
  • Books: specifically those in which great people share their thoughts and struggles to become better persons
  • Confidence that I can learn almost anything if I take conscious, persistent action
  • Airplanes
  • The fact that I enjoy working (industriousness)
  • Sunshine
  • Sea
  • Swimming
  • My choice to study engineering, not business
  • Apple Keynote
  • Little attachment to physical goods
  • The feeling that comes from intense Yoga
  • Difficult phases in personal relationships
  • The realization that I have total freedom to do what I want
  • Mountains (in all seasons)
  • Experiences with selfless service at a young age
  • Interactions with people who had decided to use their life purposefully
  • Confrontations with fear
  • An ability to bring people together
  • Nature

May the list grow with time.

Image

Unknown's avatar

Meaning through service

by

Could you name three of the Nobel prize winners of the last year?

Not long ago, many men found life’s meaning in providing their families with food, shelter and clothing. It was perceived a very fulfilling task to “do your work” disciplined and without complaint, such that your family could eat and your children could go to school.

Because it is now so common to have your basic needs covered – and often much more – most young women and men do not feel fulfilled by merely “earning a living”. We are looking for something more – we want our lives to be meaningful. In conversations with friends, many have expressed the wish or desire “to have an impact in the world”. This leads many young people to pursue paths where they could one-day run foundations, build software that “reaches millions” or become CEO’s of large corporations. I think this “long-term meaning” is insufficient to bring true fulfillment.

albert-schweitzer

Now, can you name three people who have made a big difference in your life?

If you are like me, you will have difficulty to recall the names of Nobel prize winners – people who made an impact in the world. Fame and “impact” are short-lived, because the world is transient. No one should have difficulty to name the people who made a difference in their lives.

Every day we have the opportunity to give meaning to our lives by helping the people directly around us. We can be helpful through simple actions: visiting your grandmother with groceries, spending a few hours mentoring kids, assisting a friend in preparation for an important meeting. A lot of meaning is found, however, in these small activities. I am not advocating that we give up our quest to provide meaning on a “large scale”, but I urge you to realize that at least as much of a difference can be made in the way you live your life from day to day.

This post was inspired by two readings: Clayton Christensen’s blog on belonging and believing, and Albert Schweitzer’s “Essential Writings”.

Unknown's avatar

Elementary School is more than 1,2,3 – The Importance of Character Development in Early Years

by

Can you remember an experience in your elementary or high school years that truly shaped your character?

For me, playing field hockey was a key opportunity to build my character. I was not the most skilled of athletes – far from it, in fact. As is relatively common in the Netherlands, I played field hockey. Starting at age 9, the first years of hockey offered little competition. As I grew older, kids were started to be separated into different teams. From that moment onwards, there was a (very) strong incentive to perform. I remember that often when I started the training, I committed to put in twice as much effort as the other players, just to compensate for my skill.

It was a perfect opportunity to build my character at an early age. Most of us can think of several experiences in early adulthood that taught us certain values, but very few have had the opportunity to have such experiences at an earlier age – right when they are fundamentally important.

I strongly believe that elementary schools and high schools should go beyond teaching cognitive skills – reading, writing, mathematics – and start building character. Why? Because research shows that what distinguishes “successful” students later in life is not a difference in cognitive skill at an early age, but a difference in character.

Besides sports, starting and running Projects is a perfect opportunity for learning. That is why I think every child aged 11-12 (the final two years of high-school in most European countries) should have a compulsory project as part of his or her education. The success of such project education heavily depends on the skill of the teacher and the support of parents, other kids and partners. Inherently, project education seems unscalable, because it depends on the quality of people.

My question to you: How can a “project education” module be designed for scalability?

KIPP School in the Bronx

Knowledge is Power Program

Unknown's avatar

Phantom success factors

by

So many of us work to gain more money, power or status. A little bit may be required for happiness, but above a certain threshold, more money, power or status does not equate to more happiness.

In my perception, money, power and status are phantom success factors. They are a smokescreen that prevents us from seeing the factors that will lead to true happiness. Examples abound of wealthy individuals celebrated as heroes facing depression in their individual lives. True happiness follows from very different factors as freedom; goodness and enlightenment.

If we, as individuals in a society, were to celebrate factors as enlightenment; freedom and goodness, young people would choose their careers differently. No longer would people choose for roles in banks, in stead they would opt to become artists, teachers or entrepreneurs.

It’s up to us to blow away the smoke, and see what really matters.

Thanks to Darinde, Nadine, Pieter, Frithjof for insights