Ben Averbook Podcast

Matt Bateman is a philosopher and founder of Montessorium, working on building Montessori schools enhanced with AI.

What’s the difference between patiency and an agency?

In this conversation, Matt explains why agency matters more than test scores, how AI can scale personalized learning, why education reform keeps failing, and what the world would look like if every child learned to be an agent instead of a patient.

Follow Dr. Bateman on X: https://x.com/mbateman

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Check out Montessorium: https://montessorium.school/program

(0:00) Would Maria Montessori Love AI or Hate It?

(3:14) How AI Scales the Montessori Method

(5:43) The Right Way vs Wrong Way to Use AI Tutors

(7:23) Why Matt Bateman Believes Montessori Is the Best Education Philosophy Ever Created

(9:45) Inside a Montessori Morning Routine: Students Running Their Own Day

(14:20) What Is Agency and Why Does It Matter More Than Test Scores?

(18:30) Traditional Schools Teach Kids to Be Patients, Not Agents

(22:00) Can You Build Agency After 13 Years of Being Told What to Do?

(24:45) Three Strategies for Developing Agency as a Young Adult

(28:50) Why So Many Thiel Fellows Went to Montessori Schools

(30:20) What the World Would Look Like If Everyone Had a Montessori Education

(33:40) Can Montessori Scale to a Billion Kids?

(36:10) Why Education Is Like Medicine Before Galen

(37:50) Why Most Education Startups Die (And Why Khan Academy Weakened After Gates Foundation Money)

(39:20) The Only Two Paths to Fixing Education: Build Schools and Make Arguments

(41:18) School Choice and Free Market Dynamics

(42:59) The Real Cost of Public vs Private Education

(44:21) The Zombie Bureaucracy Blocking Education Reform

(46:20) Teachers Unions Are the Biggest Problem in American Education

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.benaverbook.com

This is my conversation with Austen Allred.

Austen is the founder of Gauntlet AI which is a 10 week in-person training that, if completed, guarantees a $200k+ AI engineering job at the end. Just to make it sound more crazy, it’s completely free.

If selected, you do 2 weeks virtually and then if still in the cohort, they will fly you to Austin, TX, house you, and feed you, all at no cost to the student.

Please enjoy.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.benaverbook.com

This is my conversation with MacKenzie Price, founder of Alpha School.

Since the first Alpha School opened almost 10 years ago, MacKenzie has been working towards making kids love school more than vacation.

In this conversation we talk about:

* Why schools are still banning AI in late 2025 while Alpha’s kindergartners use it to build apps and practice public speaking

* The Harvard study showing AI tutors beat Harvard professors at teaching physics

* How kids can learn 2X, 5X, or even 10X faster with personalized AI tutoring

* The student who realized she was a “robot” with no passions after years of traditional schooling

* Why capitalism and profit are desperately needed to fix education (and why nonprofit models breed mediocrity)

* The “don’t boil the frog early” philosophy: why kids don’t need 12 years of training in how to be bored

* Training kids to be creators instead of consumers (building TikTok audiences vs doomscrolling)

K-12 education is an obviously broken system and Alpha is at the cutting edge of fixing it.

MacKenzie hosts a podcast called “Future of Education” which you can find here.

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Alpha School

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.benaverbook.com

This is a narration of the blog post written about lessons from Walter Isaacson's biography titled "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life".

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Episode Description

In this solo episode, Ben dives deep into Salman Khan's groundbreaking book "Brave New Words," exploring how artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionize education as we know it. From the fundamental flaws in our current education system to the transformative potential of AI tutors, this episode unpacks why the next decade could be the most consequential in human history for learning and human development.

Book: "Brave New Words" by Salman Khan (May 2024)

Platform: Khan Academy and Khanmigo AI tutor

Research: Benjamin Bloom's 1984 study on personalized tutoring

Previous Episode: Interview with Dr. David Ruth on AI in education

Notable Quotes

"We're moving from passive consumption of information to active dialogue with the knowledge itself."

"AI doesn't take your job. AI enables you to do any job."

"This moment can be an existential risk or an existential opportunity for all of us."

Connect with Ben:

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Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.benaverbook.com

Dr. David Ruth, Dean of STEM at the University of Austin, joins the podcast to detail UATX's mission to rebuild higher education around the fearless pursuit of truth.

We explore their first-principles approach to curriculum (integrating "Homer and Python"), their controversial merit-based admissions, and why they believe traditional universities are failing. Dr. Ruth's commitment to open inquiry and empirical rigor offers a compelling vision for the future of universities.

Highly recommend checking out the University of Austin: https://www.uaustin.org

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Timestamps:

(00:00:00) - Intro / Dr. Ruth's Journey

(00:03:10) - Why Start UATX? (00:07:25) - What Universities Get Right

(00:12:30) - College vs. Working Right Away

(00:19:08) - UATX STEM Vision / Homer & Python

(00:24:07) - Building the STEM Program

(00:33:51) - Ideology vs. Empiricism in Science

(00:43:44) - Merit-Based Admissions

(00:50:31) - Student Qualities (Curiosity & Humility)

(00:56:05) - UATX Value & Network

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.benaverbook.com

Danielle Strachman joins the podcast to break down the flaws in traditional education pathways and explore how alternative approaches can unleash potential, particularly for young founders.

Danielle is Co-founder & General Partner at 1517 Fund, a venture capital firm backing young founders often working outside traditional institutions. She previously helped build and run the Thiel Fellowship alongside Peter Thiel and has deep roots in alternative education philosophies inspired by Maria Montessori, homeschooling, and student-led learning.

I felt Danielle was speaking directly to my own experiences wrestling with the traditional path. This conversation was a powerful reminder about making conscious choices, rejecting limiting labels, and the importance of finding work aligned with your core motivations – that "fire in the belly" she talks about.

Find out more:

This podcast on all platforms: https://benaverbook.com/subscribe

1517 Fund: https://www.1517fund.com/

Danielle Strachman on X: https://x.com/DStrachman

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The Thiel Fellowship: https://thielfellowship.org/

Mentioned: The Absorbent Mind by Maria Montessori

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.benaverbook.com

My conversation with Jason Zhao, co-founder of Story Protocol.

Jason breaks down the $61 trillion intellectual property market, explains how creators can better monetize their work, and shares a vision for making IP licensing as seamless as an API call.

We explore the balance between incentivizing creation and enabling access, why AI training data should include compensation for creators, and how the future might revolutionize digital ownership.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Defining intellectual property and its $61 trillion market

00:04:33 - Is IP necessary? Historical origins and balancing incentives

00:09:18 - Where's the line between ideas and protectable IP?

00:11:11 - The Studio Ghibli AI controversy and style protection

00:12:05 - How licensing fees might impact virality and distribution

00:17:13 - Big names using Story Protocol (BTS, Blackpink, Sabrina Carpenter)

00:17:38 - How Aria works: bringing music IP on-chain with revenue and control rights

00:21:31 - Future of digital creators: more lucrative than Hollywood?

00:24:17 - How Mr. Beast could leverage Story Protocol for monetization

00:27:20 - AI training data and Jason's background at DeepMind

00:29:10 - Story Protocol's biggest challenges: the cold start problem

00:31:46 - Will licensing become a primary monetization vehicle for creators?

00:35:45 - Story Protocol in 10 years: the invisible infrastructure of creation

Check out Story Protocol here: https://www.story.foundation/

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.benaverbook.com

My conversation with Augustus Doricko, founder of Rainmaker.

Augustus shares his thoughts on higher education, what makes a successful founder, and his ambitious vision to "green the Great American Desert."

Timestamps:

00:00:00 - College admissions issues and higher education

00:04:01 - Leaving college for better opportunities

00:05:10 - Upskilling and human capital concentration

00:05:48 - Fellowship experiences: Thiel Fellowship and Z Fellows

00:07:55 - Who should be a founder? Qualities needed

00:11:58 - Augustus's journey to water scarcity solutions

00:16:32 - Clarifying cloud seeding vs. other weather modification technologies

00:21:05 - History of cloud seeding technology

00:27:04 - American revival and re-industrialization

00:32:13 - Systemic issues pushing talent into finance over innovation

00:36:25 - Rainmaker's vision: from water utility to terraforming company

Follow Augustus on X: https://x.com/ADoricko

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.benaverbook.com

Ashley Rindsberg is the author of "The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Times's Misreporting, Distortions and Fabrications Radically Alter History". I

n this episode he discusses how The New York Times has repeatedly misrepresented major historical events and why this matters.

Timestamps:

00:00:20 - The discovery of The New York Times repeating Nazi propaganda in 1939

00:07:32 - Responding to criticism of judging historical reporting in retrospect

00:12:22 - The Sulzberger family's relative obscurity compared to other media owners

00:15:43 - Personal consequences faced for criticizing The New York Times

00:19:01 - Self-publishing models versus traditional media incentives

00:24:58 - Wikipedia's "invisible power structure" and information control

00:31:48 - The debate about pseudonymous figures versus real identities online

00:35:34 - Jeff Bezos's statement about The Washington Post's direction

Find the podcast on all platforms here: https://benaverbook.com

Get Ashley’s book here - https://amzn.to/3EdrzTz

Follow Ashley on X - https://x.com/AshleyRindsberg

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.benaverbook.com