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Universities worldwide have demonstrated over the past year a shocking incapacity in navigating violent demonstrations, facilitating complex conversations on campus, and protecting minorities.

At least they are still the best at finding and developing talents. Or are they? Read on to meet a tech thought leader who wants to revolutionize the academic world.

No, he doesn’t want only AI programmers.

I am Avy Leghziel, an organizational consultant and trainer with a knack for unorthodox ideas. Here on Masters of Babel I play with the stories, maps and technologies that transform how we work, learn and manage.

01. The guy who bought an island to build a university

Balaji Srinivasan is a tech entrepreneur and investor. He and his friends just bought an island near Singapore using funds raised through Bitcoin. They are launching on the island an academic institute called “The Network School.”

If you ask Srinivasan why he decided to do something like this, he’ll tell you that American universities are no longer effective at identifying and developing young adults with talent. He, on the other hand, is searching for “dark talent.”

In scientific terms, “dark matter” refers to a type of matter that can only be detected with advanced telescopes. Srinavasan says that we have a “dark talent” issue: there are individuals whose abilities can only be discovered and fostered using more modern methods than those typically employed by universities. These are geniuses who excel in sciences, arts and sports but would likely fail a standardized exam.

The Network School comes to solve that issue: attendance doesn’t end with the completion of the degree, but offers lifelong learning; the school requires students to follow structured health and sport routines; it provides financial incentives for students who develop successful projects, content and share their solutions with the community; classrooms are small and focus on problem solving and unstructured interactions between students.

In short: a successful entrepreneur with virtually unlimited funds has decided to revolutionize academia in all its aspects: how people are admitted, how they study, the length and intensity of their studies, the business model of the university, and much more. I can already hear the voices claiming this is just another oligarchic power grab infiltrating our institutions. Let’s ignore them.

How do you redesign an archaic institution?

What interests me here is the change from "form follows function" to "function follows form."

• Form follows function: This concept, borrowed from the world of design, suggests that an object’s form enables it to be used in various ways. Example: bubble wrap. It was originally invented as a futuristic wallpaper. Then, people realized it could be an incredibly protective packaging material (and a satisfying thing to pop). Its form eventually dictated new functions.

• Function follows form: A professional sits down and asks, “If I need to develop a product specifically designed to solve this problem, what would it look like?” The classic example is the Swiss Army Knife. Some engineers had to combine essential survival tools into the smallest possible object and ended up with that little marvel of design.

Western life is shaped by hundreds, if not thousands, of products, services, and institutions with well-defined forms.

• Modern cities—with streets, buildings, and infrastructure—have existed in some form for at least 200 years.

• The modern versions of most objects we use daily—refrigerators, cutlery, beds—are between 100 and 500 years old.

• Social services (healthcare, welfare, etc.) have been around for about 150 years.

• University degrees have existed for 1,000 years.

While all these components have evolved since their inception, most have retained forms that are remarkably similar to their original designs. Refrigerators are still large cabinets in our kitchens, cities are still organized in blocks and neighborhoods.

University degrees still involve multi-year processes where you must claw your way in, cram massive amounts of short-term information, massage the egos of academics who often lack real-world experience in what they teach, and have minimal time for learning experiences outside the narrow scope of passing exams.

I know I’m painting an extreme picture, and there are thousands of academic instructors worldwide who provide genuinely transformative experiences for their students. Over time, innovations like international fellowships, online platforms, and other features have made academic life more effective and convenient. But most institutions remain attached to the classical form: at least three years of study, structured into compartmentalized courses, delivered in a lecture format, and taught by individuals who primarily prove their capabilities through research. The core characteristics of the traditional structure remain largely unchanged.

Balaji doesn’t want universities to become something else: he wants to return to the fundamental function of a university - provide a meaningful and transformative learning experience to young minds. He brings in business professionals, develops a new physical space, and designs an admissions process that isn’t based on legacy, debt, or standardized academic testing. If the necessary function is to identify and nurture talents who would otherwise be stifled by traditional admissions filters, the university’s form must be radically different.

How do you know when it’s time to question your work practices?

Maybe the Network School will flop, but it’s an absolutely essential experiment.
It’s also an intriguing lesson for all professionals shaped by a specific work culture—whatever that culture may be. Professionals raised in corporate, entrepreneurial, or public service environments carry with them management, project management, and problem-solving practices that have fossilized into forms that no longer serve their original functions.

Some examples:

• The annual performance review, a ritual that often reinforces power dynamics rather than improving performance and team development (I’ve written about this before).

• Professionals spending much of their time updating and communicating through project management apps should question whether these tools, supposedly based on “sprints” and “agile” processes, are advancing or hindering their productivity.

• Multi-step hiring processes often evolve by adding another stage every time the HR team decides an aspect needs to be examined more deeply. The amount of wasted time and the number of candidates rejected for highly irrelevant reasons are just two arguments for rethinking whether these processes are the best way to attract talent to a company.

The clash between entrepreneurship and archaic institutions is giving us fascinating case studies on the tension between innovation and evolution.
It’s an invitation to ask ourselves how we can strip down and refine many traditional components of our professional daily lives.

02. A few internet alleys I recently got lost into

1. Do Audiobooks count as reading? Some might say “interesting question”, others will reply “no, it’s a useless question”. This guy has some opinions. I tend to agree with those who say that it’s a useless question: it’s audio, you listen. The interesting question is another one: is it a problem that many people are reading less and listening more, even if it’s quality content? What do you think? Hit reply - I am curious to know what people think about this.

2. Are you familiar with Chekhov's Gun? Maybe Schrödinger's Cat, or Occam's Razor? They are popular principles from different disciplines (philosophy, physics, logic). I find them very useful to frame and work with problems and dilemmas we encounter in our lives. Members of the geek tribes will appreciate this table that shows what happens when two principles meet.

3. We’ve been flagging every single year in the past two decades (millennia?) as the worst year in history. 2024 is definitely a strong candidate, but if you don’t want to surrender to pessimism, here’s a list of humanity’s most incredible achievements nonetheless.

4. This is Whisk, Google’s new AI tool for generating images. Not the most impressive but quite amusing.

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PS: Unrelated - Nicholas Barclay disappeared when he was 13. When he returned 3 years later, he was 23 years old. The basic math issue didn’t bother his family.