Thesis Festival Line-up

Fadeke Adegbuyi is a writer (Cybernaut) currently on an expedition into internet culture.

Evan Armstrong dubs himself a “reformed venture capitalist and strategist now slinging words for a living,” writing business breakdowns, by the numbers here: https://every.to/napkin-math.

Christin Balan is the Editorial Lead at Interintellect, a writer of short speculative fiction (Writer in Progress, W.I.P), and aspiring screenwriter.

Nathan Baschez is the Co-founder of Every, writing about business strategy at https://every.to/divinations.

Matt Bateman is a philosopher running Montessorium, a Montessori education research center.

Skye Cleary is a philosopher and author, exploring what it means to live an authentic life (SkyeCleary.com).

Jason Crawford is a founder (The Roots of Progress), writer, and speaker about technological progress.

Crystal Duan is the Host Team Lead at Interintellect, writing essays that remind us we’re all main characters in our own lives (Shiz with Crys).

Nat Eliason is a writer focused on living well, seeking wisdom, and building wealth (Infinite Play).

Rob Hardy writes about building a more beautiful internet, and building human-centered businesses that regenerate trust (Ungated).

Jon Hillis is building Cabin, a network city for online creators and currently writing about internet-native communities at https://jon.mirror.xyz/.

Byrne Hobart writes about inflections in finance and technology in his newsletter The Diff.

Khe Hy is connecting the pursuit of productivity with life’s bigger questions (Rad Reads).

Isabela Granic is a researcher and Director at GEMH Lab, working to promote collective human flourishing.

Li Jin is an investor guru for online creators, currently writing about web3 and the future of being a creator on the internet (Li’s Newsletter).

Irene Karthik is a sporadic blogger (The Poetry Lantern) currently exploring societal flourishing and poetry as a way of healing.

Rohit Krishnan is a venture capitalist and essayist (Strange Loop Canon) currently exploring the philosophy of business.

Sahil Lavingia is building tools for online creators to earn a living, investing, and writing about entrepreneurship (SahilLavingia.com).

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is an educator, writer and researcher, currently writing about creativity, learning, and mindful productivity (Ness Labs).

Linus Lee explores software interfaces to help humans become clearer thinkers (thesephist.com), currently investigating applications of AI in collaboration and knowledge tools.

Sonya Mann is an essayist exploring the Internet Age (Sonya Supposedly).

Celese Marcus is the Managing Editor at the Liberties Journal of Culture and Politics, currently writing a biography of the French painter, Chaim Soutine.

Packy McCormick is a writer (Not Boring) and investor, publishing essays on business, strategy, and optimism.

Eric Newcomer is a reporter-turned-writer, currently focusing on the inner workings of the startup industry (Newcomer).

Henry Oliver is a writer and essayist (The Common Reader) currently researching “Late Bloomers.”

Bryce Roberts is a venture capitalist (Indie VC).

Jason Shen is a resilience coach and 3x startup founder, helping people navigate disruptive change (Cultivating Resilience).

Dan Shipper is writing about AI, tools for thought, and the psychology of work at Every Magazine.

Simone Stolzoff is a journalist and the author of the forthcoming book The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work.

Elaine Wang is a writer and novelist, fascinated by people and how we relate to each other (manners & mystery).

Eugene Wei is an essayist exploring social networks and the consumer internet (Remains of the Day).

Tamara Winter is an editor at Stripe, currently investigating infrastructure on the Beneath the Surface podcast.

Visakan Veerasamy is a thread-master, weaving together a global network of friendly, ambitious nerds (visa’s voltaic verses).

   💻 Online 💻

2:00 – 3:30 pm

1. Henry Oliver: “Biography and the Art of Living: Reading Better to Live Better”
2. Jason Crawford: “Great Progress Essays are Solution-Driven Narratives” 
3. Rohit Krishnan and Packy McCormick: “Writing About Business — While Being Interesting”
4. Isabela Granic: Workshop: “Creating your ‘Thesis’ Through Collective Play”

~LIVE STREAM TALKS 1&2: 4:15 – 5:15pm~

5:30 – 6:30 pm

1. Bryce Roberts: “We’re Selling Entrepreneurship Short”
2. Fadeke Adegbuyi: “Online Platforms are Shaping Our Behaviour (and Lives)”
3. Irene Karthik and Christin Balan: “Crafting the Personal Essay in an Age of Distractions”
4. Byrne Hobart: “Why The Social Network was the Most Important Movie of All Time”

               ~LIVE STREAM TALKS 3&4: 6:45-7:45pm~

8:00 – 9:00 pm

1. Khe Hy and Jason Shen: “What Productivity Can Teach Us About Inner Desires”
2. Rob Hardy and Sonya Mann: “How We Can Make the Internet Feel More Human and Intellectually Inspiring”

9:00 – 10:00 pm 

1. Li Jin, with Jon Hillis: “On Tech Foundations and the Philosophies of Social Movements”

🗽 Offline 🗽

4:15 – 5:00 pm

Theory (10 mins talks):

1. Dan Shipper: “Start a Project Not a Startup”
2. Christin Balan: “What We Can Learn from Screenwriters” 
3. Nathan Baschez: “Narratives Have Network Effects”
4. Evan Armstrong: “AI Makes Content Go to Zero”

Practice (15 mins talks): 

1. Matt Bateman: “Education Should Give the Power Tools for Agency”
2. Celeste Marcus: “The Stewardship of Transcendent Experiences for Writers”
3. Linus Lee: “Creativity in the Age of AI: Redefining and Rethinking Tool Design”

5: 30 – 6:15 pm 

• Breakout circle room 1: Crystal Duan and Elaine Wang: “How To Cultivate The Writer’s Self-Compassion” 

• Breakout circle room 2: Skye Cleary: “I Hate Writing, I Love Having Written: The Existential Anxiety of Getting Words onto Paper”

6:45 – 7:30 pm

Theory (15 mins talks):

1. Visakan Veerasamy: “The Clustering of Citizens Who Can Change The World”
2. Tamara Winter: “Abundance Mindset for Online Writers”
3. Anne-Laure Le Cunff: “Goals, Reimagined: A New Approach to Ambition for Our Liminal Times”

Practice (15 mins talks): 

1. Simone Stolzoff: “The Good Enough Job: How Working Less Makes us More Human”
2. Eric Newcomer: “The Fog: A non-conspiratorial view that much of what’s happening in the world is invisible to the public.”
3. Nat Eliason: “You and Your Monkey: Why Aren’t We Rich, Fit, Happy Geniuses?”

7:45 – 8:15 pm (15 mins talks)

1. Sahil Lavingia: “How Being Religiously Optimistic Shaped Me as a Writer”
2. Eugene Wei: “Writing as Technology”

***Ticket Purchasers: RSVP for After Party in Email***