Michael Strong — Let’s Get Socratical (EP.252)

Michael Strong has spent decades quietly revolutionizing education by designing innovative schools and programs built around agency, critical thinking, entrepreneurship and creativity.

He is the founder and CEO of The Socratic Experience, a virtual school that equips students for lifelong happiness and success through Socratic dialogue.

Alongside his work in the US, he has educational consulting experience in multiple developing nations.

And… he’s a fellow Minnesotan!

Michael joins the show to discuss whether Socratic education can scale, the benefits of the Mormon model, why high agency is the default, and MUCH more!

I hope you enjoy this 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:

• Michael’s Substack
• Twitter
• The Socratic Experience

Show Notes:

• One book a night and mental chess - a Minnesotan childhood.
• Can Socratic education scale?
• Are we entrenching a new elite?
• Why high agency is the default
• Creating new subcultures & the benefits of the Mormon model
• Experimenting our way to prosperity
• Tearing down the citadel, secret censorship & claiming the moral high ground
• Prediction markets & why we should be betting on our reputation
• The heroic tradition of reason
• Michael as World Emperor
• MORE!

Books Mentioned:

• Dr. Semmelweis vs. the World (Infinite Loops Substack)
• Ignore. Fight. Ridicule (Infinite Loops Substack)
• The Habit of Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice; by Michael Strong
• Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems; by Michael Strong and John Mackey
• The Case Against Adolescence: Rediscovering the Adult in Every Teen; by Robert Epstein
• The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
• The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science; by Robert Anton Wilson
• Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior; by Christopher Boehm
• Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions; by Todd Rose
• Can Gambling Save Science? Encouraging an Honest Consensus; by Robin Hanson
• Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life; by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Hothouse Earth: An Inhabitant's Guide; by Bill McGuire
• Think in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts; by Annie Duke
• The Ultimate Resource; by Julian L. Simon
• Keep Your Identity Small; by Paul Graham