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

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